Metabolic profiling detects early effects of environmental and lifestyle exposure to cadmium in a human population

Ellis, James K.; Athersuch, Toby J.; Thomas, Laura D.K.; Teichert, Friederike; Pérez-Trujillo, Miriam; Svendsen, Claus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7281-647X; Spurgeon, David J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3264-8760; Singh, Rajinder; Järup, Lars; Bundy, Jacob G.; Keun, Hector C.. 2012 Metabolic profiling detects early effects of environmental and lifestyle exposure to cadmium in a human population. BMC Medicine, 10, 61. 10, pp. 10.1186/1741-7015-10-61

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Abstract/Summary

Background: The ‘exposome’ represents the accumulation of all environmental exposures across a lifetime. Topdown strategies are required to assess something this comprehensive, and could transform our understanding of how environmental factors affect human health. Metabolic profiling (metabonomics/metabolomics) defines an individual’s metabolic phenotype, which is influenced by genotype, diet, lifestyle, health and xenobiotic exposure, and could also reveal intermediate biomarkers for disease risk that reflect adaptive response to exposure. We investigated changes in metabolism in volunteers living near a point source of environmental pollution: a closed zinc smelter with associated elevated levels of environmental cadmium. Methods: High-resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy (metabonomics) was used to acquire urinary metabolic profiles from 178 human volunteers. The spectral data were subjected to multivariate and univariate analysis to identify metabolites that were correlated with lifestyle or biological factors. Urinary levels of 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine were also measured, using mass spectrometry, as a marker of systemic oxidative stress. Results: Six urinary metabolites, either associated with mitochondrial metabolism (citrate, 3-hydroxyisovalerate, 4- deoxy-erythronic acid) or one-carbon metabolism (dimethylglycine, creatinine, creatine), were associated with cadmium exposure. In particular, citrate levels retained a significant correlation to urinary cadmium and smoking status after controlling for age and sex. Oxidative stress (as determined by urinary 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine levels) was elevated in individuals with high cadmium exposure, supporting the hypothesis that heavy metal accumulation was causing mitochondrial dysfunction. Conclusions: This study shows evidence that an NMR-based metabolic profiling study in an uncontrolled human population is capable of identifying intermediate biomarkers of response to toxicants at true environmental concentrations, paving the way for exposome research. Keywords: metabonomics, cadmium, environmental health, exposome, metabolomics, molecular epidemiology

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1186/1741-7015-10-61
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 1 - Monitoring and Interpretation of Biogeochemical and Climate Changes
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Hails
ISSN:	1741-7015
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Additional Keywords:	metabonomics, cadmium, environmental health, exposome, metabolomics, molecular epidemiology
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	04 Mar 2013 12:58 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/500177

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