Clinical and molecular analysis of childhood cancer after Chernobyl

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Of 23 radiation accidents that have occurred since 1945, the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine, on 26 April 1986, has generated the largest number of victims. According to the International Atomic Agency, radioactive gases and aerosols released from the damage unit contaminated Belarus and Russia, as well as Ukraine. The Gomel, Mogilev and Brest region in Belarus received a high level of fallout containing ^<137>Cs. Most of the radionuclides are long-lived and have contaminated the inhabitants of this area. Radiation disasters induce various types of cancers with different latency periods ; these cancers include leukemia and thyroid and breast cancer. Kazarkov et al. reported a marked increase in the frequency of thyoid cancer in children in Belarus, in particular those in the Gomel region, 1990.We performed a clinical survey to determine whether internal exposure to the long-lived radionuclide influenced the occurrence of childhood cancer, especially bone tumo … More r. In the present study, the clinical findings of children with neoplasms of bone were compared between the contaminated area (Gomel, Mogilev and Brest region) and non-contaminated area (Minsk, Grudno and Vitebsk) in Belarus. We also measured the content of ^<90>Sr in bone tumor. The frequency of patients with bone tumor has not increased after the accident. There were no differences in the ratio of male to female, types of bone tumor, involvement of contiguous organs and the percentages of metastasis between the patients living in contaminated areas and those in non-contaminated areas. It is of interest that the incidence of the patients at the age of younger than 10 years was significantly greater in contaminated areas than in non-contaminated areas (33.3% vs. 21.3%, p=0.0377). Additionally, 5 in 11 patients examined had higher levels of ^<90>Sr in bone tumors. Our previous study revealed that Gomel region had a higher percentage of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of two or lower than did the Vitebsk region. The frequent occurrence of childhood cancer at a young age observed in the area heavily contaminated with ^<137>Cs in Belarus may relate to the long exposure to the radioactives from the fetal period. Less