Chernobyl Cancer Studies with Overseas Control: High Grade vs. Late Detection

Abstract

Dear Editor, This is an addition to the review published in the Turkish Journal of Pathology 1, commenting on the series of studies 2-7, in particular, the last one making a comparison of clear-cell renal carcinoma (RC) tissue specimens from Ukraine with those from Colombia and Spain 7. Thyroid cancer (TC) is discussed by analogy. RCs from Ukraine tended to be higher-grade than those from Spain and Colombia 2-7; among others, they displayed a sarcomatoid i.e. poorly differentiated pattern more frequently: 62 from 236 (26.3%) of Ukrainian vs. 11 from 112 (9.8%) of Spanish cases (p10% cell positivity for p50 was found in 25 from 59 (42.4%) of Ukrainian vs. 4 from 19 (21.1%) of Spanish cases; the >50% p65 positivity was found, correspondingly, in 18 from 59 (30.1%) vs. 1 from 19 (5.3%) of the cases (p<0.05) 4. Accordingly, NF-kappa-B activation is discussed in the literature as a probable marker of cancer progression. The suppositions about enhanced aggressiveness of tumors from radiocontaminated areas might be conducive to overtreatment. Surgeons may decide to perform nephrectomy instead of a kidney-preserving procedure if they learn that cancers from contaminated areas are more aggressive than usual, where the peritumoral renal parenchyma harbors "proliferative atypical nephropathy with tubular epithelial nuclear atypia and carcinoma in situ" 3. The potential overtreatment of post-Chernobyl thyroid and urinary bladder lesions has been discussed elsewhere 14,15.

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