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The iron metabolism was studied in serum blood samples collected from 26 professional sportsmen undergoing intensive physical exercises using EPR combined with haematological and biochemical laboratory tests. Only 23% of EPR spectra (n = 6) were practically normal while in the rest spectra additional abnormal absorption lines were detected. Presumably, the significant portion of new signals may be caused by different cytochromes. Moreover, the anisotropic signals with g1 approximately equal to 2.02; g2 approximately equal to 1.94 and g3 approximately equal to 1.86 registered in some spectra pointed to the sulfur-iron centers. There was nearly linear correlation between the concentration of Fe3+ in transfferin (Fe(3+)-Tf) obtained from the EPR spectra and the serum iron concentration measured by absorption photometry both for sportsmen and controls (healthy individuals and patients with different diseases). At equal serum iron concentrations the Fe(3+)-Tf level was higher in sportsmen than that in controls. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for Fe(3+)-Tf and serum iron values was equal to 0.89 in sportsmen versus r = 0.97 in controls. Additional new lines in serum EPR spectra of professional sportsmen prove the suitability of EPR assay for scheduled medical exams since routinebiochemical and haematological tests are insufficient to discover all abnormalities in iron metabolism under intensive physical exercises.

Changes in Fe(3+)-transferrin (Fe(3+)-Tf) and Cu(2+)-ceruloplasmin (Cu(2+)-Cp) concentrations in venous blood sampled from anemic patients with urinary bladder and kidney cancer in I-IV stages were investigated using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. It was established that at malignancy-associated anemia the paramagnetic Fe3+ ion concentration in transferrin is below a norm, while in anemic non-oncology patients the Tf iron saturation is normal. Moreover, in patients with malignancy-associated anemia the Cu(2+)-Cp average value is nearly twice as large as that for healthy volunteers (confidence probability P). It was shown that simultaneous EPR measuring of paramagnetic centers (such as Fe(3+)-Tf and Cu(2+)-Cp) in blood of anemic patients can be used as a biomarker for urological cancer diagnosis even at early stages of the growth of a malignant tumor.