Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2026. Vol. 71. № 5

DOI:10.33266/1024-6177-2026-71-5-99-106

S.S. Silkin, D.A. Zavyalov

POTENTIAL EFFECT OF ENDOCRINE SYSTEM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADIATION-INDUCED BREAST AND FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM CANCER

South Ural Federal Scientific and Clinical Center of Medical Biophysics, Chelyabinsk, Russia

Contact person: Stanislav S. Silkin, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

ABSTRACT

Cancers of the mammary gland and female reproductive organs hold one of the most important places in the structure of incidence and mortality among women all over the globe. Pituitary hormones play pivotal role in the regulation of reproductive system. Their impaired secretion could promote the development and progression of cancers of these organs.

Radiogenic risk of developing cancer of individual organs in epidemiological studies is usually analyzed with due account of doses to these organs. However, late effects of low- and medium-dose chronic exposure could also be mediated by the effect of various hormones. Along with the well-known ovarian hormones (estrogen and progesterone), pituitary hormones (prolactin and somatotrophic growth hormone) as factors that are involved in the carcinogenesis of the female reproductive organs and mammary gland attract more and more attention of the scientists.

The study dwells upon the mechanisms of the pituitary hormones effect on mammary gland tissues and female reproductive organs, cell growth and differentiation.

The objective of the study is to classify and analyze the present-day knowledge of the role of pituitary hormones (prolactin, growth hormone, luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormone) in the development of the mammary gland and female reproductive organ cancers.

Literature-derived data demonstrate in a convincing way the role of pituitary hormones in the development and progression, as well as metastatic spread of cancers of the mammary gland and female reproductive organs. Epidemiological, molecular, and clinical studies confirm that these hormones effect cell proliferation, mechanisms of apoptosis, and angiogenesis via complex signaling pathways.

The knowledge of the pathogenetic mechanisms of the pituitary hormones effect on the development of female reproductive system cancers together with the creation of dosimetry model of pituitary gland exposure and subsequent estimation of doses to the pituitary gland in the cohort of accidentally exposed population of the Southern Urals will enable the assessment of the radiogenic risk of the cancer development of the mammary gland and organs of the female reproductive system with due account of these factors.

 

Keywords:  mammary gland cancer, pituitary hormones, prolactin, somatotrophic growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor

For citation: Silkin SS, Zavyalov DA. Potential Effect of Endocrine System on the Development of Radiation-Induced Breast and Female Reproductive System Cancer. Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2026;71(5):99–106. DOI:10.33266/1024-6177-2026-71-5-99-106

 

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Conflict of interest.The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Financing. The work was carried out as part of the state assignment of the South Ural Federal Scientific Center for Biomedical Problems of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia for 2025 and the planning period of 2026 and 2027.

Contribution. Silkin S.S.: concept, literature search, literature analysis, and manuscript writing; Zavyalov D.A.: literature search, literature analysis, and manuscript editing.

Article received: 20.04.2026. Accepted for publication: 25.05.2026.