Open Access

Evaluation of heavy metals and metabolites in the urine of patients with breast cancer

  • Authors:
    • Yuhao Men
    • Ling Li
    • Fen Zhang
    • Xueyuan Kong
    • Weidong Zhang
    • Chongli Hao
    • Guotian Wang
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: December 11, 2019     https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2019.11206
  • Pages: 1331-1337
  • Copyright: © Men et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

Metrics: Total Views: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )
Total PDF Downloads: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )


Abstract

Epidemiologic studies demonstrated that the environment serves a crucial role in cancer development. Heavy metals, including arsenic (As), cadmium (cd), chromium (Cr), lead and mercury, are considered to be carcinogens or co‑carcinogens. Furthermore, Cd has been detected in breast cancer (BC) tissue at high concentrations. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between heavy metals detected in urine and urine metabolome of patients with BC, and their association with cancer development. Nuclear magnetic resonance was used to determine urine metabolites and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry system was used to detect heavy metals in urine samples. The results demonstrated that Cd was markedly increased in the urine of patients with BC compared with the control population (approximately 2‑fold). Cr and As were also increased in the urine of patients with BC. In addition, numerous small molecule metabolites were altered in the urine of patients with BC compared with the control population. This study also demonstrated that alterations in small molecule metabolites in the urine of patients with BC were very similar to results from a previous report. These findings indicated that environmental exposure to Cd, As, or Cr could influence the urine levels of metabolites, which may be involved in BC development. Further investigation is therefore required to examine a larger range of samples from different countries or areas in order to understand the impact of heavy metals on metabolism and BC development.
View Figures
View References

Related Articles

Journal Cover

February-2020
Volume 19 Issue 2

Print ISSN: 1792-1074
Online ISSN:1792-1082

Sign up for eToc alerts

Recommend to Library

Copy and paste a formatted citation
x
Spandidos Publications style
Men Y, Li L, Zhang F, Kong X, Zhang W, Hao C and Wang G: Evaluation of heavy metals and metabolites in the urine of patients with breast cancer. Oncol Lett 19: 1331-1337, 2020
APA
Men, Y., Li, L., Zhang, F., Kong, X., Zhang, W., Hao, C., & Wang, G. (2020). Evaluation of heavy metals and metabolites in the urine of patients with breast cancer. Oncology Letters, 19, 1331-1337. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2019.11206
MLA
Men, Y., Li, L., Zhang, F., Kong, X., Zhang, W., Hao, C., Wang, G."Evaluation of heavy metals and metabolites in the urine of patients with breast cancer". Oncology Letters 19.2 (2020): 1331-1337.
Chicago
Men, Y., Li, L., Zhang, F., Kong, X., Zhang, W., Hao, C., Wang, G."Evaluation of heavy metals and metabolites in the urine of patients with breast cancer". Oncology Letters 19, no. 2 (2020): 1331-1337. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2019.11206