RESUMO
Blood serum from people suffering from cancer and healthy subjects was subjected to a comparative study by X-ray diffraction. The diffraction patterns were referred to that of pure water. The patterns obtained for blood serum of healthy subjects were similar to that of pure water, while those of cancer patients (two kinds of cancer changes) were different. The former similarity is accounted for by the dominant interaction of water molecules in healthy blood serum with non-polar side chains of amino acids, stabilising the serum structure. In samples from cancer patients the structure of water in blood serum is destroyed because of enhanced interactions of water with polar molecules of conformationally changed proteins. This observation suggests X-ray examination of blood serum from cancer patients and healthy subjects, indicating X-ray diffraction as a diagnostic tool for the occurrence of cancer. The results of this work have shown that the presence of protein affected by cancer has a destructive effect on the structure of water in human serum. The results reported confirm the earlier finding relating cancer changes to optical circular birefringence effects.
