Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Environ Health Perspect. 2013 Jan;121(1):85-91. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1204951. Epub 2012 Oct 9.
Elemental mercury (Hg0) is widely used in small-scale gold mining. Persons working or living in mining areas have high urinary concentrations of Hg (U-Hg). Differences in genes encoding potential Hg-transporters may affect uptake and elimination of Hg.
We aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Hg-transporter genes that modify U-Hg.
Men and women (1,017) from Indonesia, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe were classified either as controls (no Hg exposure from gold mining) or as having low (living in a gold-mining area) or high exposure (working as gold miners). U-Hg was analyzed by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. Eighteen SNPs in eight Hg-transporter genes were analyzed.
U-Hg concentrations were higher among ABCC2/MRP2 rs1885301 A-allele carriers than among GG homozygotes in all populations, though differences were not statistically significant in most cases. MRP2 SNPs showed particularly strong associations with U-Hg in the subgroup with highest exposure (miners in Zimbabwe), whereas rs1885301 A-allele carriers had higher U-Hg than GG homozygotes [geometric mean (GM): 36.4 µg/g creatinine vs. 21.9; p = 0.027], rs2273697 GG homozygotes had higher U-Hg than A-allele carriers (GM: 37.4 vs. 16.7; p = 0.001), and rs717620 A-allele carriers had higher U-Hg than GG homozygotes (GM: 83 vs. 28; p = 0.084). The SLC7A5/LAT1 rs33916661 GG genotype was associated with higher U-Hg in all populations (statistically significant for all Tanzanians combined). SNPs in SLC22A6/OAT1 (rs4149170) and SLC22A8/OAT3 (rs4149182) were associated with U-Hg mainly in the Tanzanian study groups.
SNPs in putative Hg-transporter genes may influence U-Hg concentrations.
元素汞（Hg0）被广泛应用于小规模金矿开采。在矿区工作或生活的人尿液中的汞浓度较高（U-Hg）。编码潜在汞转运体的基因差异可能会影响汞的摄取和消除。
我们旨在鉴定改变 U-Hg 的汞转运体基因中的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）。
来自印度尼西亚、菲律宾、坦桑尼亚和津巴布韦的男性和女性（1017 人）被分为对照组（无金矿开采导致的汞暴露）或低暴露组（居住在金矿开采区）或高暴露组（金矿工人）。采用冷蒸气原子吸收光谱法分析 U-Hg。分析了八个 Hg 转运体基因中的 18 个 SNP。
在所有人群中，ABCC2/MRP2 rs1885301 A 等位基因携带者的 U-Hg 浓度高于 GG 纯合子，但大多数情况下差异无统计学意义。MRP2 SNP 与暴露程度最高的亚组（津巴布韦的矿工）中的 U-Hg 呈特别强的关联，而 rs1885301 A 等位基因携带者的 U-Hg 高于 GG 纯合子[几何均数（GM）：36.4µg/g 肌酐比 21.9；p=0.027]，rs2273697 GG 纯合子的 U-Hg 高于 A 等位基因携带者（GM：37.4 比 16.7；p=0.001），rs717620 A 等位基因携带者的 U-Hg 高于 GG 纯合子（GM：83 比 28；p=0.084）。SLC7A5/LAT1 rs33916661 GG 基因型与所有人群的 U-Hg 升高相关（对所有坦桑尼亚人联合分析具有统计学意义）。SLC22A6/OAT1（rs4149170）和 SLC22A8/OAT3（rs4149182）中的 SNP 主要与坦桑尼亚研究组的 U-Hg 相关。
潜在汞转运体基因中的 SNP 可能会影响 U-Hg 浓度。
