Determination of Heavy Metals and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Oncological Patients: A Pilot Study

Abstract

A large number of studies in the literature increasingly suggest a causal relationship between the onset of cancer and other diseases and the exposure to environmental pollutants, particularly heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other products. Environmental pollution seems to be an important determinant for the onset of several diseases, so special attention must be paid to this question. Recently, some authors, by measuring heavy metals in cancer tissue, have come to the conclusion that these metals can accumulate in tumor tissue and, through different mechanisms and actions, can stimulate the progression of breast cancers and reduce the sensitivity to various treatments. In this study, in order to investigate the involvement of these pollutants in the development of certain types of cancer, we measured the levels of 14 heavy metals in blood and hair samples, and 12 PCBs in blood samples of a total of 33 cancer patients living in areas considered at risk of pollution. All studied patients were found to have variable amounts of heavy metals and some PCBs especially in the blood. The exact mechanism by which these substances affect the various stages of the neoplastic process is still the subject of our investigation. In our study, metal levels were found to be at least three times higher than the maximum reference value in all patients.