Donatella Coradduzza, Antonella Congiargiu, Emanuela Azara, Ismaeil Mohammed Abulkahar Mammani, Maria Rosaria De Miglio, Angelo Zinellu, Ciriaco Carru, Serenella Medici
{"title":"Heavy metals in biological samples of cancer patients: a systematic literature review","authors":"Donatella Coradduzza, Antonella Congiargiu, Emanuela Azara, Ismaeil Mohammed Abulkahar Mammani, Maria Rosaria De Miglio, Angelo Zinellu, Ciriaco Carru, Serenella Medici","doi":"10.1007/s10534-024-00583-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p> The majority of the so-called heavy metals are suspected to be involved in a number of pathologies and play a role in human carcinogenesis. Some of them (i.e. arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and nickel (Ni)) have been defined as carcinogens, increasing the susceptibility of tumor development and progression in humans. Moreover, Ni, Cr, Cd, Hg, and Pb together with zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), may be capable of stimulating the progression of breast cancer and reducing a patient’s sensitivity to treatment through alterations to DNA methylation. In patients with gastric cancers, levels of various heavy metals are augmented and hypothesized to amplify the expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 gene. Cd may increase the risk of lung cancer development and have a negative impact on the overall survival of lung cancer patients. To investigate the relation between heavy metals in biological samples and risk, occurrence and survival cancer individuals, a comprehensive review work was performed, with a focus on breast, lung, prostate and gastric cancers. An extensive search strategy was devised to ensure relevant literature could be identified, with the PECO framework being adopted to facilitate this and identify key search terms. As evidenced in this review, there is substantial data to support the hypothesis that heavy metals influence tumor development and progression. Unluckily the number of papers dealing with the determination of metals directly in samples from cancer tissues is still rather limited, so we decided to expand the scope of this review also to analyses carried out on other biological samples, as urine, plasma, hair, nail, etc. The studies reviewed showed that several limitations and current knowledge gaps are present in the literature that require further investigation to improve our comprehension of the impact of different heavy metals on tumorigenesis.</p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3>\n<div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":491,"journal":{"name":"Biometals","volume":"37 4","pages":"803 - 817"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11254964/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biometals","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10534-024-00583-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The majority of the so-called heavy metals are suspected to be involved in a number of pathologies and play a role in human carcinogenesis. Some of them (i.e. arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and nickel (Ni)) have been defined as carcinogens, increasing the susceptibility of tumor development and progression in humans. Moreover, Ni, Cr, Cd, Hg, and Pb together with zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), may be capable of stimulating the progression of breast cancer and reducing a patient’s sensitivity to treatment through alterations to DNA methylation. In patients with gastric cancers, levels of various heavy metals are augmented and hypothesized to amplify the expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 gene. Cd may increase the risk of lung cancer development and have a negative impact on the overall survival of lung cancer patients. To investigate the relation between heavy metals in biological samples and risk, occurrence and survival cancer individuals, a comprehensive review work was performed, with a focus on breast, lung, prostate and gastric cancers. An extensive search strategy was devised to ensure relevant literature could be identified, with the PECO framework being adopted to facilitate this and identify key search terms. As evidenced in this review, there is substantial data to support the hypothesis that heavy metals influence tumor development and progression. Unluckily the number of papers dealing with the determination of metals directly in samples from cancer tissues is still rather limited, so we decided to expand the scope of this review also to analyses carried out on other biological samples, as urine, plasma, hair, nail, etc. The studies reviewed showed that several limitations and current knowledge gaps are present in the literature that require further investigation to improve our comprehension of the impact of different heavy metals on tumorigenesis.
期刊介绍:
BioMetals is the only established journal to feature the important role of metal ions in chemistry, biology, biochemistry, environmental science, and medicine. BioMetals is an international, multidisciplinary journal singularly devoted to the rapid publication of the fundamental advances of both basic and applied research in this field. BioMetals offers a forum for innovative research and clinical results on the structure and function of:
- metal ions
- metal chelates,
- siderophores,
- metal-containing proteins
- biominerals in all biosystems.
- BioMetals rapidly publishes original articles and reviews.
BioMetals is a journal for metals researchers who practice in medicine, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, microbiology, cell biology, chemistry, and plant physiology who are based academic, industrial and government laboratories.