The Detection of Serum and Urine Levels of Alpha 2-Macroglobulin in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients Receiving Late Period Radiotherapy and its Significance

Objective: To detect the dynamic changes of the serum and urine alpha2-macroglobulin (α2M) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after receiving different doses of ionizing radiation and to provide further basis of α2M application in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoradionecrosis of the jaws (ORNJ). Methods: We use ELISA to further identify the expression of α2M in the serum and urine of 30 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after receiving different doses (0Gy, 50Gy, 70Gy) of ionizing radiation and 20 healthy volunteers. Data were compared t test using 17.0 software package. Results: The serum level of α2M in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma has positive correlation tendency with radiation dose. Compared with the experimental groups (0Gy and 50Gy), the serum α2M level of the experimental group (70Gy) increased significantly (P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) among the urine level of α2M in patients receiving different doses of radiation. Conclusion: (1) It prompts that serum α2M may be regarded as one of the early indicators monitoring the jaw damage from ionizing radiation. There should be more in-depth and systematic studies. (2) The urine level of α2M in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma has nothing to do with radiation doses and we consider that radiation within therapeutic doses has no obvious effect on α2M kidney metabolism.