抄録
To clarify the mechanism by which the radon hot spring prevents cancer or not, in this study, blood was collected from the residents in the Misasa hot spring district and in the control district, and the level of a representative cancer-suppressive gene, p53, and the activity of a representative antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase (SOD), were analyzed as indices. As a result, the level of serum p53 protein in the males in the Misasa hot spring district was 2-fold higher than that in the control district, with a significant difference. In the females in the Misasa hot spring district, SOD activity was approximately 15 % higher with statistical significance than that in the control district, and exceeded the reference range of SOD activity despite advanced age. These results suggested that routine exposure to radon at a concentration about 3 times higher than the national mean by the residents in the Misasa hot spring district induces trace active oxygen in vivo, potentiating products of cancer-suppressive gene and antioxidant function. As the p53 protein level was high in the residents in the Misasa hot spring district, apoptosis of cancer cells may readily occur. These factors may have led to the low cancer-related mortality rate.
