CGPH FACULTY: Michael Bates, Allan H. Smith
DATE OF PUBLICATION: September 2010
REGION: Latin America
REFERENCE: Steinmaus C, Yuan Y, Kalman D, Rey OA, Skibola CF, Dauphine D, Basu A, Porter KE, Hubbard A, Bates MN, Smith MT, Smith AH. Individual differences in arsenic metabolism and lung cancer in a case-control study in Cordoba, Argentina. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2010 Sep 1;247(2):138-45. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2010.06.006. Epub 2010 Jun 17.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: In humans, ingested inorganic arsenic is metabolized to monomethylarsenic (MMA) then to dimethylarsenic (DMA), although in most people this process is not complete. Previous studies have identified associations between the proportion of urinary MMA (%MMA) and increased risks of several arsenic-related diseases, although none of these reported on lung cancer. In this study, urinary arsenic metabolites were assessed in 45 lung cancer cases and 75 controls from arsenic-exposed areas in Cordoba, Argentina. This study is the first to report an association between individual differences in arsenic metabolism and lung cancer, a leading cause of arsenic-related mortality. These results add to the increasing body of evidence that variation in arsenic metabolism plays an important role in arsenic-disease susceptibility.
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