Farah Ibrahim O, Trimble Quannesha, Ndebele Kenneth, Mawson Anthony
University of Mississippi Medical Center, MS.
Biomed Sci Instrum. 2010;46:404-9.
The bodys elemental/ metal loads are known to exert essential influence in maintaining normal and abnormal metabolism leading to eventual pathology of some forms of cancer phenotypes. Accumulation of potentially toxic or nonessential trace metals has been observed but not highly noted as an active factor in toxicogenesis and in the development of many diseases including cancers. The compositional balance and distribution of trace metals in various body tissues are essential key players in homeostasis in life. To this end the etiology of diseases including cancer has been linked with the accumulation of potentially toxic or nonessential trace metals. However, scarce literature / experimental evidence exist as a scientific proof that metal concentrations play important role in the etiology and development of cancer phenotypes. The aim of this study was to investigate the differential relationship of metal concentrations and profiles in cancer and normal tissues from cadavers of humans. The originated hypothesis was that elemental / metal concentrations and profiles seen in post mortem will show significant differences between normal and cancer-derived tissues as well as between various tissue types in humans. This study also establishes critical elemental /metal profiles that may be relevant in providing correlations with the development of three major cancers. Normal human and tumor tissues of cadaverous lung, breast and liver tissues used in this study were obtained from US Biomax Company. Tissue samples were prepared using standardized digestion procedures necessary for use with the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). This equipment was utilized to determine the concentrations and profiles of 21 elements including Ag, Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, Tl, V, and Zn. Twelve major elements of Al, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Na, Pb, Se, Sr, and Zn were found to be significantly different in term of their concentrations / profiles in normal and tumor tissues of human lung, breast and liver. These critical elements appeared to be respectively five to ten times more abundant in human lung and breast tumor than in their respective normal tissues. In contrast Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Zn, concentrations were shown to be lower in liver tumors than in normal liver tissues, and that Ca and Na appeared to be higher in human liver tumors than in normal liver tissues. Data analysis showed significant variations in elemental concentrations and profiles consistent with the hypothesis. It is concluded that metal / elemental homeostasis is essential for normal tissue function and that elemental variations and distributions are tissue specific as well as carcinoma specific. These results are promising and warrant further studies to confirm / exploit the possibility of manipulating elemental distribution and content as means for diagnosing / utility as therapeutic modalities in chronic human disease as well as cancer management.
已知人体的元素/金属负荷对维持正常和异常代谢具有重要影响，最终导致某些癌症表型的病理变化。已观察到潜在有毒或非必需微量金属的积累，但在毒理学以及包括癌症在内的许多疾病的发展中，并未将其作为一个活跃因素而受到高度关注。各种人体组织中微量金属的组成平衡和分布是生命体内稳态的关键因素。为此，包括癌症在内的疾病病因已与潜在有毒或非必需微量金属的积累联系起来。然而，作为科学证据，稀缺的文献/实验证据表明金属浓度在癌症表型的病因和发展中起重要作用。本研究的目的是调查人体尸体中癌症组织和正常组织中金属浓度和分布的差异关系。最初的假设是，死后观察到的元素/金属浓度和分布在正常组织和癌症衍生组织之间以及人体不同组织类型之间将显示出显著差异。本研究还确定了可能与三种主要癌症的发展相关的关键元素/金属分布。本研究中使用的人体尸体的肺、乳腺和肝脏组织的正常组织和肿瘤组织样本来自美国生物马克斯公司。使用与电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱仪（ICP-AES）配套使用所需的标准化消化程序制备组织样本。该设备用于测定21种元素的浓度和分布，包括银、铝、砷、钡、钙、镉、钴、铬、铜、铁、镁、锰、钠、镍、铅、锑、硒、锶、铊、钒和锌。发现铝、钡、钙、铬、铜、铁、镁、钠、铅、硒、锶和锌这12种主要元素在人体肺、乳腺和肝脏的正常组织和肿瘤组织中的浓度/分布存在显著差异。这些关键元素在人体肺和乳腺肿瘤中的含量似乎分别比各自的正常组织高五到十倍。相比之下，钡、铬、铜、铁、锌在肝脏肿瘤中的浓度低于正常肝脏组织，而钙和钠在人体肝脏肿瘤中的浓度似乎高于正常肝脏组织。数据分析表明，元素浓度和分布存在显著差异，与假设一致。结论是，金属/元素稳态对正常组织功能至关重要，元素的变化和分布具有组织特异性以及癌症特异性。这些结果很有前景，值得进一步研究以确认/探索操纵元素分布和含量作为诊断手段/作为慢性人类疾病以及癌症治疗方式的可能性。
