The Russian Radiobiological Human Tissue Repository: characteristics of biological specimens donated by nuclear workers with lung cancer

Abstract

Purpose: Characteristics of biological specimens donated by nuclear workers with lung cancer.

Materials and methods: Biological specimens were identified at the Radiobiological Human Tissue Repository (RHTR). It was established at the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute in Russia and has been developed and supported within the bilateral US-Russian Agreement on International Cooperation for Minimization of the Effects of Prolonged Radiation Exposure. Biological specimens were collected from workers of the Russian nuclear production facility Mayak PA who were exposed to gamma radiation and/or alpha particles. To determine a histologic type of lung cancer, immunohistochemistry was used.

Results and conclusions: Today biological specimens donated by 343 registrants with lung cancer are available at the RHTR. Among them, 255 donors (74%) are Mayak PA workers hired at the main facilities (reactors, plutonium production, and radiochemical plants) in 1948–1982. These workers donated about 6024 specimens of lung tissues (tumor and tumor-free) stored mostly as formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks (31%) and histology slides (64%); in addition, they donated 1800 specimens of blood/blood components, buccal epithelium cells, and sputum. Among histologic types identified for these lung cancer cases, adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma were prevalent. Information about individual doses from external and internal radiation exposure, data on quantitative smoking characteristics and diseases are available for all workers with lung cancer. Complete information on radiation exposure, health status and non-radiation factors annotated to RHTR registrants and the high quality of the available biological specimens are a unique resource for studying biological mechanisms of radiation-induced lung cancer.

Keywords:

• Biorepository
• lung cancer
• ionizing radiation
• Mayak PA workers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was performed in the framework of the national agreement No. 11.306.12.2 with the Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia on ‘Study of cancer and non-cancer effects in Mayak PA workers following chronic radiation exposure’ and a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy (award number DE-FC01-08HS08032) to the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute and Georgetown University.

Notes on contributors

Galina Zhuntova

Galina Zhuntova, PhD, MD (pulmonology), is a senior researcher of the clinical department of the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.

Christopher Loffredo

Christopher Loffredo, PhD, is a director of Cancer prevention and control program at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Professor at Department of Oncology and Biostatistics at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.

Evgeniya Grigoryeva

Evgeniya Grigoryeva is a researcher (epidemiological statistics) of the clinical department of the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.

Gleb Sychugov

Gleb Sychugov, PhD, MD (anatomic pathology), is a senior researcher of the clinical department of the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.

Evgeny Kazachkov

Evgeny Kazachkov, PhD, MD (anatomic pathology), is a senior researcher of the clinical department of the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.

Evgeniya Kirillova

Evgeniya Kirillova, PhD, is a senior researcher of the clinical department at the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.

Tamara Azizova

Tamara Azizova, PhD, MD (neurology), is a head and the leading researcher of the clinical department, science deputy director at the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute of the Federal Medical Biological Agency, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia.