There is considerable evidence that ionizing radiation (IR) mediates checkpoint control, repair and cell death. In this study, we have used a high density microarray hybridization approach to characterize the transcriptional response of human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cell line to ${gamma}$-radiation, such as 4 Gy 4 hr, 8 Gy 4 hr, and 8 Gy 12 hr. We found that exposure to ${gamma}$-ray alters by at least a $log_2$ factor of 1.0 the expression of 115 known genes. Of the 66 genes affected by ${gamma}$-radiation, 49 are down-regulated. In our results, the cellular response to irradiation includes induction of the c-jun and EGR1 early response genes. The present work has examined potential cytoplasmic signaling cascades that transduce IR-induced signals to the nucleus. 40S ribosomal protein s6 kinase modulates the activities of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and c-Jun $NH_2$-terminal kinase (JNK1) cascades in human monocytic leukemia (U937/pREP4) cells. 14-3-3 family members are dimeric phosphoserine -binding proteins that participate in signal transduction and checkpoint control pathways.