Table 2:
Studies from Latin American countries related to arsenic induced genotoxicity, genetic susceptibility and risk
| Reference | Country | Design | Characteristics of subjects | Results/ Main Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goix et al. (2011) | Bolivia | Cross-sectional | 123 hair samples were collected from children living in non-industrial urban areas and 26 living in smelter vicinity | Higher Z-scores were seen for As in both children’s hair and aerosols in the smelter district. Significant differences (p<0.001) in As in children’s hair were observed between the smelter and downtown area. |
| Rocha-Amador et al. (2011) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 20 children from low As region and 20 children from high As region | None of the water samples from the low As region exceeded the Mexican guidelines. Urinary As, F level and apoptosis level in children from high As region were significantly higher |
| Bailey et al. (2013) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 16 adults exposed to As | Total UAs had 5.3%– 21.4% iAs, 10.3%–28.9% MMAs, and 49.3%– 84.9% DMAs. 8 subjects had positive indicators of diabetes (HbA1c ≥ 6.5%) and 7 had positive indicators of pre-diabetes (HbA1c = 5.7%–6.4%). Methylation patterns of genes associated with diabetes mellitus were associated with urinary concentrations of iAs |
| Drobna et al. (2013) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 255 individuals | Subjects with M287T and G4965C polymorphisms had higher levels of urinary DMA and were more often diabetic than the respective wild-type carriers, (not statistically significant). OR=11.4 (95% CI: 2.2, 58.8) and 8.8 (95% CI 1.6, 47.3) for the combined effects of As exposure in >75th percentile for 287T and 4965C genotypes, respectively |
| Gamino-Gutierrez et al. (2013) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 98 children living in the study area for at least two years and 42 children from a non exposure site | Exposed children had a higher level of UAs (mean 40.3 μg/g Cr) than the control children (mean 16.3 μg/g Cr). Micronucleated exfoliated cells (MEC) assay confirmed genotoxic damage in As exposed children (Mean MEC frequency/1000 cells: 2.2 vs 1.06) |
| Bailey et al. (2014) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 50 newborns and their mothers | Proteins (N=111) in newborn cord blood were significantly associated with maternal U-tAs. 30 “activator” newborns had a positive association between protein expression and maternal U-tAs while 20 “repressor” newborns showed a negative relationship between protein expression level and maternal U-tAs |
| Estrada-Capetillo et al. (2014) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 72 children chronically exposed to As (154.2 g/L) and F (5.3 mg/L) from drinking water and from food cooked with the same water. | UAs concentrations were positively correlated with the UF concentrations (r2 = 0.413, p < 0.0001). The CD25 gene expression levels and UAs and UF concentrations were negatively correlated. CD40 expression levels were negatively correlated with UAs concentration. |
| Hernandez et al. (2014) | Chile | Cross-sectional | 207 Chilean men working in the copper industry | MN frequencies showed poor correlation with total UAs. MN values were significantly higher for those carrying the variant allele of AS3MT Met287Thr genotypes (OR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.6, 5.2) |
| Navoni et al. (2014) | Argentina | Cross-sectional | 650 individuals | 68% of the study locations had a Hazard Quotient of more than 1, and CR between 5·10−5 and 2·10−2. 0–14 and 0–40 year old groups had 1.39 and 1.53 folds increase respectively in the relative risk of cancer |
| Rager et al. (2014) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | A subset of 40 newborns from the Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) pregnancy cohort | Total UAs was associated with 12 miRNAs with increasing expression |
| Zamoiski et al. (2014) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 512 adolescents with close residential proximity to a lead smelter | Urinary As was positively associated with serum 1,25(OH)2D (β=3.4) (95% CI: 0.9, 5.9) |
| Gaxiola-Roble et al. (2015) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 108 Mexican women were recruited but 52 breast milk samples were analyzed | Glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities were significantly (p<0.01) associated with purine nucleotide phosphorylase activity in the adjusted model |
| Rojas et al. (2015) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | A subset of 38 mother-newborn pairs exposed to varying levels of As from the larger BEAR cohort | CpG islands within the first exon, the 5′UTR and 200 bp upstream of the Transcription Start Site showed DNA methylation changes most predictive of As related changes in gene expression. 16 genes correlated with iAs-associated changes in DNA methylation and mRNA expression were recognized; 7 of which showed DNA methylation levels associated with differences in birth outcomes |
| McEwen et al. (2016) | Bolivia | Environmental sample analysis | 49 samples from Potosí and 5 from Sucre. | Majority of the sampled households contained bioaccessible As concentrations. Moderate but positive correlation was observed between adobe brick and dirt floor samples for total As (rho = 0.572) |
| Apata et al. (2017) | Chile | Cross-sectional | 142 adults from three study areas. | Camarones had a higher frequency of the protective gene variants than other study areas. Combination of protective variants of CTTA was more frequent in Camarones (68%) and Azapa (48%) than San Juan de la Costa (8%). The C-variant related to toxicity risks in the SNP Met287Thr had a lower frequency in Camarones (1%) than the others |
| de la Rosa et al. (2017) | Chile | Cross-sectional analysis using case-control study data | 722 adults recruited for As cancer case control study | Subjects with minor alleles in AS3MT rs3740393 had lower %MMA (mean difference = −1.9%, 95% CI: −3.3, −0.4), higher %DMA (mean difference = 4.0%, 95% CI: 1.5, 6.5), and lower odds ratios for bladder (OR=0.3; 95% CI: 0.1,0.6) and lung cancer (OR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.2,1.1) than wild-type carriers |
| Garrido et al. (2017) | Bolivia | Environmental sample analysis | Not applicable | Agricultural soils had a total As concentration that exceeded agricultural soil guidelines by 22-fold. Potato tubers in mining-impacted sites had maximum As concentrations that exceeded the limits in commercially sold vegetables by 9-fold. Using conservative assumptions, HQ for potatoes were elevated for As for children (HQ range 9.1–71.8) as well as for adults (HQ range 7.1–34.2) |
| Gonzalez-Cortes et al. (2017) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 50 children exposed to As from tap water | As levels were positively associated with DNA methylation of ECM remodeling genes. High exposed showed hypermethylation in MMP9 promoter region. Positive associations between MMP9 DNA methylation with toenail As concentrations, RAGE DNA methylation with both iAs and %MMA, and TIMP1 DNA methylation with the first As methylation was found |
| Jiménez-Villarreal et al. (2017) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 76 As-exposed individuals and 112 controls. | The exposed population had low nutritional consumption than the control group (P < 0.05). The frequency of double strand break fragmentation was significantly higher in the exposed population that the control group (p<0.05) |
| Nunes et al. (2017) | Ecuador | Environmental sample analysis | 26 rice plant (with grain) samples were collected from rice paddies | Estimated daily intake (EDI) of As for urban infants of Ecuador was about four times higher than those of Europe. EDI for the whole population was nearly twice that of Europe, but between a half and a third of that of Brazil, Bangladesh, and India. Estimated excess lifetime risk for adults is 3 per 10,000; for infants, it varies between 10 per 10,000 in rural areas and 20 per 10,000 in urban areas |
| Pavilonis et al. (2017) | Bolivia | Environmental sample analysis | 74 soil measurements were collected at mine processing sites Yani (n=35), Dorado (n=23), and Ingenio (n=16) | Non-cancerous health effect risks were primarily influenced by exposure to As. There was an increased probability of individuals developing cancer on exposure, with adult miners having a probability of 1.3 out of 100 |
| Smeester et al. (2017) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 40 children | Enrichment of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-regulated immune and inflammatory response proteins that showed decreased expression levels with increased U-tAs. The strongest response was observed in relation to the monomethylated arsenicals |
| Beck et al. (2018) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 109 healthy residents | Six circulating miRNAs (miRs-423-5p, -142-5p −2, -423-5p +1, -320c-1, -320c-2, and -454-5p) were significantly correlated with plasma monomethyl-As (MMA). miRs-423-5p, -454-5p were previously linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes |
| Kordas et al. (2018) | Uruguay | Cross-sectional | 143 children | Log-transformed U-As showed positive association with 8-OHdG (β=10.90 [95% CI: 3.82, 17.97]) after accounting for Cd and Pb exposure. In regression models, a mixture index (for all metals including As) showed association with higher 8-OHdG (β=8.71 [95% CI: 1.12, 16.3] for each 25% increase in index value, primarily driven by As exposure |
| Villarreal et al. (2019) | Mexico | Cross-sectional | 76 exposed males (WAs above 10 μg/L) and 112 control males | The exposed group showed an increase in telomere length with a T/S ratio = 0.74 ± 0.07 while the control group had = 0.54 ± 0.01. A linear relationship was seen between U-As and the telomere length in the exposed group (r2 = 0.47; P = 0.039), but not in the control (r2 = 0.09; P = 0.062) |