Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, 44109, USA.
Semin Cancer Biol. 2021 Nov;76:156-162. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2021.05.002. Epub 2021 May 7.
Humans are often exposed to mixtures of environmental pollutants especially environmental chemical carcinogens, representing a significant environmental health issue. However, our understanding on the carcinogenic effects and mechanisms of environmental carcinogen mixture exposures is limited and mostly relies on the findings from studying individual chemical carcinogens. Both arsenic and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) are among the most common environmental carcinogens causing lung cancer and other types of cancer in humans. Millions of people are exposed to arsenic via consuming arsenic-contaminated drinking water and even more people are exposed to BaP via cigarette smoking and consuming BaP-contaminated food. Thus arsenic and BaP combined-exposure in humans is common. Previous epidemiology studies indicated that arsenic-exposed people who were cigarette smokers had significantly higher lung cancer risk than those who were non-smokers. Since BaP is one of the major carcinogens in cigarette smoke, it has been speculated that arsenic and BaP combined-exposure may play important roles in the increased lung cancer risk observed in arsenic-exposed cigarette smokers. In this review, we summarize important findings and inconsistencies about the co-carcinogenic effects and underlying mechanisms of arsenic and BaP combined-exposure and propose new areas for future studies. A clear understanding on the mechanism of co-carcinogenic effects of arsenic and BaP combined exposure may identify novel targets to more efficiently treat and prevent lung cancer resulting from arsenic and BaP combined-exposure.
人类经常暴露于环境污染物混合体中,尤其是环境化学致癌物,这是一个重大的环境健康问题。然而,我们对环境致癌物混合物暴露的致癌作用和机制的理解是有限的,并且主要依赖于研究个别化学致癌物的发现。砷和苯并(a)芘(BaP)都是最常见的环境致癌物之一,可导致人类肺癌和其他类型的癌症。数百万人通过饮用受砷污染的饮用水接触砷,更多的人通过吸烟和食用受 BaP 污染的食物接触 BaP。因此,人类同时接触砷和 BaP 是很常见的。先前的流行病学研究表明,暴露于砷的吸烟者患肺癌的风险明显高于不吸烟者。由于 BaP 是香烟烟雾中的主要致癌物之一,因此有人推测,砷和 BaP 的联合暴露可能在观察到的砷暴露吸烟者肺癌风险增加中起重要作用。在这篇综述中,我们总结了砷和 BaP 联合暴露的协同致癌作用及其潜在机制的重要发现和不一致之处,并提出了未来研究的新领域。对砷和 BaP 联合暴露协同致癌作用机制的清晰认识,可能为更有效地治疗和预防由砷和 BaP 联合暴露引起的肺癌提供新的靶点。
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