Update from the Chernobyl Tissue Bank: Effect of Latency on Different Types of Thyroid Cancer Post-Chernobyl

Abstract

The only unequivocal radiological effect of the Chernobyl accident on human health is the increase in thyroid cancer in those exposed in childhood or early adolescence. In response to the scientific interest in studying the molecular biology of thyroid cancer post Chernobyl, the Chernobyl Tissue Bank (CTB: www. chernobyltissuebank.com) was established. The project is supported by the governments of Ukraine and Russia, and is financially supported (US $3M) by the European Commission, the National Cancer Institute of the United States, and the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation of Japan. The project began collecting a variety of biological samples from patients on October 1, 1988, and has supplied material to 15 research projects in Japan, the United States, and Europe. The results from these studies so far suggest that the increase in thyroid cancer is largely confined to papillary carcinoma, but follicular cancers have also now been shown to increase, suggesting that different types of thyroid cancer may have differing latencies. Molecular biological studies have indicated that there is as yet no obvious radiation signature, and that the molecular biology of the papillary cancers which have arisen may be influenced more by the age of the patient at clinical presentation than their aetiology.