De Palma Giuseppe, Goldoni Matteo, Catalani Simona, Carbognani Paolo, Poli Diana, Mozzoni Paola, Acampa Olga, Internullo Eveline, Rusca Michele, Apostoli Pietro
Department of Experimental and Applied Medicine, Section of Industrial Hygiene, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Acta Biomed. 2008;79 Suppl 1:43-51.
Occupational/environmental exposure to some metallic elements is a risk factor for the development of lung diseases, including lung cancer. We aimed at investigating the levels of arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, nickel and lead in the lung tissue of patients affected by early stage non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A small number of patients without a diagnosis of lung cancer were also included as control group. Lung tissue biopsies were collected from 45 NSCLC patients (both cancerous and unaffected tissues) and 8 control subjects undergoing surgery. Patients were stratified for smoking habits, histopathology and cancer sites. Metallic elements were determined in dry tissue after digestion by means of ICP-MS. Cd, Ni and Pb levels were higher in unaffected than in control tissues (0.52 vs 0.18 microg/g dry, p < 0.05 for Cd; 4.49 vs 1.8 microg/g dry,p < 0.05 for Ni; 0.21 vs 0.06 microg/g dry, p < 0.01 for Pb). The three elements, and particularly Cd, were influenced by smoking habits; Pb levels were higher in squamocellular carcinoma than adenocarcinomas; Ni distributed in the lungs in an inhomogeneous way. This study demonstrates that the unaffected lung tissue is more representative than the cancerous tissue of the pulmonary content of metallic elements. Tobacco smoke is a main factor affecting the concentration levels of Cd, Pb, and to a lesser extent Ni in the lung tissues of NSCLC patients. The role of past environmental-occupational exposures could not be fully elucidated, due to the limited sample size and the retrospective nature of the study.
职业性/环境性接触某些金属元素是包括肺癌在内的肺部疾病发生的一个风险因素。我们旨在调查早期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者肺组织中砷、铍、镉、钴、铬、镍和铅的含量。少数未被诊断为肺癌的患者也被纳入作为对照组。从45例NSCLC患者（癌组织和未受影响组织）以及8例接受手术的对照受试者中采集肺组织活检样本。患者按吸烟习惯、组织病理学和癌症部位进行分层。通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）测定消化后干燥组织中的金属元素。未受影响组织中的镉、镍和铅含量高于对照组织（镉：0.52微克/克干重 vs 0.18微克/克干重，p < 0.05；镍：4.49微克/克干重 vs 1.8微克/克干重，p < 0.05；铅：0.21微克/克干重 vs 0.06微克/克干重，p < 0.01）。这三种元素，尤其是镉，受吸烟习惯影响；鳞状细胞癌中的铅含量高于腺癌；镍在肺中的分布不均匀。本研究表明，未受影响的肺组织比癌组织更能代表肺部金属元素的含量。烟草烟雾是影响NSCLC患者肺组织中镉、铅含量以及在较小程度上影响镍含量的主要因素。由于样本量有限以及研究的回顾性性质，过去环境 - 职业暴露的作用无法完全阐明。
