Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Health and Environments Research Centre (HERC) Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Atlantic PATH, Population Cancer Research Program, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Mar 1;232:113269. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113269. Epub 2022 Feb 7.
Long-term exposure to environmental arsenic has been associated with many chronic diseases, including several cancers, and diabetes. Urinary studies have implicated arsenic speciation as an important risk factor, however, such associations have not been replicated using toenail samples: a relatively new biosample for estimating long-term internal dose-exposure to arsenic. Despite having several advantages over conventional biosamples such as ease of collection and storage, standard methods for arsenic speciation analysis in toenails have not yet been established. The primary objectives of this study were to 1) establish an analytical method for arsenic speciation analysis in toenails, 2) describe preliminary arsenic speciation profiles of toenail samples from individuals with skin, lung, bladder, and kidney cancer, type II diabetes, and no known disease, and 3) determine if these speciation patterns differ between disease groups to inform the feasibility of subsequent research. A small cross-sectional feasibility study was carried out using 60 toenail samples and baseline questionnaire data from the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow's Health (Atlantic PATH) study. Arsenic speciation profiles were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) paired with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). While no differences in total arsenic were found, arsenic speciation profiles were significantly different between certain cancer groups and the reference group with no known disease. Specifically, the percentage of monomethylarsonic acid (%MMA) was found to be significantly higher in the toenails of individuals with lung cancer and kidney cancer, compared to healthy individuals with similar total arsenic exposure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to describe arsenic speciation patterns in individuals with several arsenic-related diseases using toenails: a convenient, non-invasive, biobankable sample capable of longer-term exposure estimation than conventional biosamples. These preliminary data provide evidence that toenail arsenic speciation patterns differ between groups with arsenic-related disease, and those with no known disease. Toenail arsenic speciation analysis is feasible and could potentially have important implications for research on arsenic-related diseases. Further investigation is warranted and would benefit from including detailed arsenic exposure data to explore the observed heterogeneity in arsenic speciation profiles.
长期暴露于环境砷已与许多慢性疾病相关，包括多种癌症和糖尿病。尿液研究表明，砷形态与重要的风险因素有关，然而，这种关联尚未通过趾甲样本得到复制：趾甲是一种相对较新的生物样本，可用于估计长期内部剂量-砷暴露。尽管与传统生物样本相比具有采集和存储方便等多个优点，但尚未建立趾甲中砷形态分析的标准方法。本研究的主要目的是：1）建立趾甲中砷形态分析的分析方法，2）描述皮肤癌、肺癌、膀胱癌和肾癌、2 型糖尿病以及无已知疾病个体的趾甲样本的初步砷形态分布，3）确定这些形态模式是否在疾病组之间存在差异，为后续研究提供信息。本研究采用横断面向量伙伴关系明天的健康（Atlantic PATH）研究中的 60 个趾甲样本和基线问卷调查数据进行了小型横断面可行性研究。采用高效液相色谱（HPLC）与电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）联用的方法测定砷形态分布。虽然总砷无差异，但某些癌症组与无已知疾病的参考组之间的砷形态分布存在显著差异。具体而言，与总砷暴露相似的健康个体相比，肺癌和肾癌患者的单甲基砷酸（%MMA）百分比明显更高。据我们所知，这是第一项使用趾甲描述几种与砷相关疾病个体中砷形态模式的研究：一种方便、非侵入性、可生物银行化的样本，比传统生物样本更能估计长期暴露。这些初步数据表明，与无已知疾病的个体相比，具有与砷相关疾病的个体的趾甲砷形态模式存在差异。趾甲砷形态分析是可行的，可能对与砷相关疾病的研究具有重要意义。需要进一步调查，并从详细的砷暴露数据中受益，以探索砷形态分布中观察到的异质性。
