Sá Isabel, Semedo Mariana, Cunha Mónica Elisabete
Departamento de Bioquímica, Genética e Imunologia, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo. Spain.
Departamento de Medicina Molecular, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Porto Biomed J. 2016 Mar-Apr;1(1):25-28. doi: 10.1016/j.pbj.2016.03.006. Epub 2016 Mar 1.
The association between exposure to heavy metals and cancer has been extensively studied, although the mechanisms involved are far from being completely understood. Concerning renal cell carcinoma, several heavy metals have been implicated as risk factors, namely cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). Herewith, we investigated the presence and distribution of heavy metals in samples of renal cell carcinoma, as well as adjacent renal tissue (control samples), in patients submitted to radical or partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma. Samples from renal tumour and adjacent renal tissue were processed and observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-Ray Microanalysis (SEM-XRM), in order to detect and quantify heavy metals , using the JEOL JSM-6301F microscope. Our results revealed a significant difference in the composition of heavy metals between the renal adjacent tissue (control) and the tumour tissue. No heavy metal particles were detected in the adjacent (control) tissue, by this technique, but the presence of heavy metals such as chromium (Cr), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) were detected among other particles which could be seen in the tumour tissue samples. Our results might suggest a possible role of heavy metals in the oncogenic pathway of renal cell carcinoma. However, there is controversy regarding this topic: 1 - Is this anomalous sequestration of heavy metals just an epiphenomenon or is this a hint of a causal mechanism? 2 - Can heavy metals be used as biomarkers with potential diagnostic or prognostic interest? For example, could they be used to improve the diagnostic value of renal biopsy in clinical practice?
重金属暴露与癌症之间的关联已得到广泛研究，尽管其中涉及的机制远未完全明了。关于肾细胞癌，几种重金属被认为是危险因素，即镉（Cd）和铅（Pb）。在此，我们调查了接受肾细胞癌根治性或部分肾切除术患者的肾细胞癌样本以及相邻肾组织（对照样本）中重金属的存在情况和分布。对肾肿瘤和相邻肾组织的样本进行处理，并通过扫描电子显微镜结合X射线微分析（SEM-XRM）进行观察，以便使用JEOL JSM-6301F显微镜检测和定量重金属。我们的结果显示，肾相邻组织（对照）和肿瘤组织之间重金属组成存在显著差异。通过该技术在相邻（对照）组织中未检测到重金属颗粒，但在肿瘤组织样本中可见的其他颗粒中检测到了铬（Cr）、铁（Fe）和铜（Cu）等重金属的存在。我们的结果可能表明重金属在肾细胞癌的致癌途径中可能发挥作用。然而，关于这个话题存在争议：1 - 这种重金属的异常螯合仅仅是一种附带现象，还是因果机制的一种暗示？2 - 重金属能否用作具有潜在诊断或预后意义的生物标志物？例如，它们能否用于提高临床实践中肾活检的诊断价值？
