Associations between proteins and heavy metals in urine at low environmental exposures: Evidence of reverse causality
(2012) In Toxicology Letters 210(3). p.345-352- Abstract
- Heavy metals can cause renal effects on vulnerable populations but it is uncertain whether these metals still pose health risks at the low exposure levels now prevailing in most industrialized countries. In a cross-sectional study performed on 736 adolescents, we assessed the associations between the concentrations of cadmium and lead in blood and urine and the urinary concentrations of albumin and of low-molecular-weight (LMW) proteins, retinol-binding protein (RBP) and beta(2)-microglobulin. Multiple regression analyses were tested using urinary markers normalized to urinary creatinine or specific gravity. Median metal concentrations were in blood (mu g/L): lead. 15.1, cadmium, 0.18 and in urine (mu g/g creatinine): cadmium, 0.09 and... (More)
- Heavy metals can cause renal effects on vulnerable populations but it is uncertain whether these metals still pose health risks at the low exposure levels now prevailing in most industrialized countries. In a cross-sectional study performed on 736 adolescents, we assessed the associations between the concentrations of cadmium and lead in blood and urine and the urinary concentrations of albumin and of low-molecular-weight (LMW) proteins, retinol-binding protein (RBP) and beta(2)-microglobulin. Multiple regression analyses were tested using urinary markers normalized to urinary creatinine or specific gravity. Median metal concentrations were in blood (mu g/L): lead. 15.1, cadmium, 0.18 and in urine (mu g/g creatinine): cadmium, 0.09 and lead, 0.82. Multivariate analyses revealed significant associations in urine between RBP and cadmium as well as between beta(2)-microglobulin and lead whereas no associations were seen with metals in blood. These associations were completely abolished in subjects with increased urinary albumin, which may be explained by the competitive inhibition of LMW protein reabsorption by albumin. Given the evidence that cadmium and lead circulate mainly bound to LMW proteins, these associations observed at low exposure might simply reflect the interindividual variations in the renal uptake of proteins sharing the same affinity for tubular binding sites. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2545456
- author
- Chaumont, Agnes ; Nickmilder, Marc ; Dumont, Xavier ; Lundh, Thomas LU ; Skerfving, Staffan LU and Bernard, Alfred
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cadmium, Lead, Heavy metals, Proteinuria, Albuminuria, Retinol-binding, protein, beta(2)-microglobulin, Reverse causality
- in
- Toxicology Letters
- volume
- 210
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 345 - 352
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000303623600011
- scopus:84858964143
- pmid:22353377
- ISSN
- 1879-3169
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.toxlet.2012.02.005
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fef1d631-db9a-4a98-9b4b-d3e2e39cf3ee (old id 2545456)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:22:19
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 21:19:39
@article{fef1d631-db9a-4a98-9b4b-d3e2e39cf3ee, abstract = {{Heavy metals can cause renal effects on vulnerable populations but it is uncertain whether these metals still pose health risks at the low exposure levels now prevailing in most industrialized countries. In a cross-sectional study performed on 736 adolescents, we assessed the associations between the concentrations of cadmium and lead in blood and urine and the urinary concentrations of albumin and of low-molecular-weight (LMW) proteins, retinol-binding protein (RBP) and beta(2)-microglobulin. Multiple regression analyses were tested using urinary markers normalized to urinary creatinine or specific gravity. Median metal concentrations were in blood (mu g/L): lead. 15.1, cadmium, 0.18 and in urine (mu g/g creatinine): cadmium, 0.09 and lead, 0.82. Multivariate analyses revealed significant associations in urine between RBP and cadmium as well as between beta(2)-microglobulin and lead whereas no associations were seen with metals in blood. These associations were completely abolished in subjects with increased urinary albumin, which may be explained by the competitive inhibition of LMW protein reabsorption by albumin. Given the evidence that cadmium and lead circulate mainly bound to LMW proteins, these associations observed at low exposure might simply reflect the interindividual variations in the renal uptake of proteins sharing the same affinity for tubular binding sites. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.}}, author = {{Chaumont, Agnes and Nickmilder, Marc and Dumont, Xavier and Lundh, Thomas and Skerfving, Staffan and Bernard, Alfred}}, issn = {{1879-3169}}, keywords = {{Cadmium; Lead; Heavy metals; Proteinuria; Albuminuria; Retinol-binding; protein; beta(2)-microglobulin; Reverse causality}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{345--352}}, publisher = {{Elsevier}}, series = {{Toxicology Letters}}, title = {{Associations between proteins and heavy metals in urine at low environmental exposures: Evidence of reverse causality}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2012.02.005}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.toxlet.2012.02.005}}, volume = {{210}}, year = {{2012}}, }