Effect of ionizing radiation (radiation therapy) on the structural and functional state of serum albumin with cervical cancer
Authors: Puzan N. D. , Belyakovskiy V. N. , Cheshik I. A. , Mihailov I. V. 
Published: September 2023

The study of the literature on the detoxification properties of an albumin molecule and a prognostic value of determining albumin indicators allows us to conclude that it is undoubtedly important to assess the structural and functional properties of albumin in cancer patients at all stages of the diagnostic and treatment process already at the present time. At the same time, the lack of information makes it necessary and promising to widely introduce the fluorescent method for assessing total and effective albumin concentrations in the clinical and scientific work of oncologists.

Therefore, the aim of our work was to study the effect of radiation therapy on the structural and functional state of serum albumin in patients with cervical cancer.

In order to study radiation-induced changes in serum albumin when irradiated with therapeutic doses of ionizing radiation, the biological material (blood) of 28 people from the Gomel region was used: 1st group (control) – 13 healthy people; 2nd group – 15 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer who underwent remote gamma therapy (30 Gy). The collection of biological material in the 2nd group was carried out as follows: upon admission to patient treatment; after the 1st session of radiotherapy (2 Gy); after the 3rd session of radiotherapy (6 Gy); after the 5th session of radiotherapy (10 Gy); after the 7th session of radiotherapy (14 Gy); after the 10th session of radiotherapy (20 Gy), and after the 15th session of radiotherapy (30 Gy).

According to A. Gryzunov, G. E. Dobretsov’s method, the following indicators were determined: total albumin concentration (TAC) − the number of albumin molecules capable of binding toxic ligands is equal to the albumin concentration determined in any other way; effective albumin concentration (EAC) − the number of albumin binding centers is unoccupied by toxic ligands; the reserve of albumin binding (RAB) − it reflects the degree of structural modification of the protein; the index of toxicity (IT) − it characterizes the filling of albumin centers with toxic ligands.

The total albumin concentration is within normal values, both for healthy and cancer patients throughout the course of radiation therapy. The analysis of the indicators characterizing the structural and functional state of serum albumin (EAC, RAB, and IT) in patients with cervical cancer showed that the amount of fully functioning protein statistically significantly decreases when compared with a group of healthy people.

When studying the effect of radiation therapy on the structural and functional state of serum albumin in cancer patients, the following was determined: in 57 % of cases, the values of the IT indicator increase after a course of radiotherapy, and in 43 % − decrease;

after the 1st session of radiotherapy, further dynamics of IT after treatment is determined: if after 2 Gy the values of the IT indicator increase, then by the end of therapy this indicator will be higher than that when entering treatment, and, conversely, if after 2 Gy the values of the IT indicator decrease, then after the course of radiotherapy this indicator will be less than that when entering treatment;

it is possible that the patient’s place of residence is a determining factor in the development of an individual reaction of the serum albumin transport system to the effect of therapeutic doses of ionizing radiation.

The determination of albumin indicators characterizing the structural and functional state of serum albumin, in particular, the index of toxicity in patients with cervical cancer should be used as an individual diagnostic and prognostic criterion in the dynamics of observation of patients undergoing radiation therapy.