Analysis Of DNA-Damage And Cancer-Related Gene Expression Following Space-Radiation Exposure Using NASA Open Science Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29284/jqgs5s28Keywords:
Space radiation, NASA Open Science, DNA damage, Gene expression, Cancer biology, Transcriptomics, Spaceflight, Galactic cosmic rays, Bioinformatics, Precision medicine.Abstract
Space exploration exposes astronauts to unique radiation environments that differ fundamentally from terrestrial radiation. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR), solar particle events (SPE), and high-energy heavy ions produce complex DNA damage that may increase long-term risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and accelerated aging. As human spaceflight progresses toward prolonged missions to the Moon and Mars, understanding the molecular consequences of space radiation has become a major priority in space biology and precision medicine. Recent advances in NASA's Open Science initiative have enabled researchers worldwide to access extensive genomic, transcriptomic, radiation dosimetry, and biological datasets generated through experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS), ground-based radiation simulators, and spaceflight analog studies. These openly available datasets provide unprecedented opportunities to investigate DNA-damage signaling, genome instability, oxidative stress, immune dysregulation, apoptosis, and cancer-related gene expression following exposure to the unique space radiation environment. High-throughput sequencing technologies, bioinformatics pipelines, systems biology, artificial intelligence, and network-based computational analyses have substantially improved the interpretation of these complex datasets by enabling identification of radiation-responsive molecular pathways, biomarkers, and regulatory networks. This review provides a comprehensive overview of DNA-damage mechanisms induced by space radiation, NASA Open Science resources, computational approaches for transcriptomic analysis, major cancer-associated signaling pathways, current biological discoveries, translational applications, and future directions for precision space medicine.[1]
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
