Metabonomic analysis of serum of workers occupationally exposed to arsenic, cadmium and lead for biomarker research: a preliminary study.
Environmental metabonomics is the application of metabonomics to characterize the interactions of organisms with their environment. Metabolic profiling is an exciting addition to the armory of the epidemiologist for the discovery of new disease risk biomarkers and diagnostics. This work is a continuation of research searching for preclinical serum markers in a group of 389 healthy smelter workers exposed to lead, cadmium and arsenic. Changes in the metabolic profiles were studied using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy on pooled serum samples from both the metal exposed and control groups. These multivariate metabonomic datasets were analyzed with Principal Component Analysis and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis. Analysis of metabolic profiles of people exposed to heavy metals suggests energy metabolism disturbance induced by heavy metals. Changes in lipid fraction (very-low-density lipoprotein - VLDL, low-density lipoprotein - LDL), unsaturated lipids and in the level of amino acids suggest perturbation of the metabolism of lipids and amino acids. This study illustrated the high reliability of NMR-based metabonomic profiling on the study of the biochemical effects induced by the mixture of heavy metals. This approach is capable of identifying intermediate biomarkers of response to toxicants at environmental/occupational concentrations, paving the way to its use in a monitoring of smelter workers exposed to low doses of lead, cadmium and arsenic.
Organic and Pharmaceutical Technology Group, Department of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: ilona.dudka@gmail.com.
Ilona
I
Dudka
Wroclaw Medical University, Wybrzeże L. Pasteura 1, 50-367 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: barbara.kossowska@o2.pl.
Barbara
B
Kossowska
Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation, Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology, Plac Grunwaldzki 13, 50-377 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: hanna.senhadri@pwr.wroc.pl.
Hanna
H
Senhadri
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland. Electronic address: rafal.latajka@pwr.wroc.pl.
Rafał
R
Latajka
Organic and Pharmaceutical Technology Group, Department of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: julianna.hajek@gmail.com.
Julianna
J
Hajek
Department of Internal and Occupational Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, Wybrzeże L. Pasteura 4, 50-367 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: randrzejak@usk.wroc.pl.
Ryszard
R
Andrzejak
Department of Internal and Occupational Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, Wybrzeże L. Pasteura 4, 50-367 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: jola@chzaw.am.wroc.pl.
Jolanta
J
Antonowicz-Juchniewicz
Organic and Pharmaceutical Technology Group, Department of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland. Electronic address: roman.gancarz@pwr.wroc.pl.
Roman
R
Gancarz
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood; D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000633:toxicity*; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL / Q000097:blood; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D055442:Metabolome / Q000187:drug effects*; D055432:Metabolomics; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D000596:Amino Acids; D015415:Biomarkers; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D001151:Arsenic
Environmental toxicology; Heavy metals; Metabolomics; Metabonomics; Molecular epidemiology; Pattern recognition