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Arsenic linked to DNA damage The research demonstrates that a human cell's own metabolic responses to arsenic exposure produces compounds that cause genetic damage, according to the scientific research into the effects of methylated trivalent arsenic on human lymphocytes in culture and on isolated DNA. The research shows arsenic can induce an interaction of arsenic compounds with DNA, causing genetic alterations. An article on the research, "Trivalent methylated arsenic species are genotoxic," was published in the 16 April of Chemical Research in Toxicology. The study found that methylated trivalent arsenic derivatives, which can be produced by the body in an attempt to detoxify arsenic, result in reactive compounds that cause DNA to break. The findings have the potential to be used to quantify genetic damage in human populations exposed to arsenic, according to EPA officials. An EPA toxicologist and colleagues from the agency's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory conducted the recent study, with associates at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The National Academy of Sciences will be reviewing the findings of this study when it makes its assessment about arsenic levels in drinking water, due out early next year. A study released in March indicated that while arsenic may not cause cancer on its own, it can precipitate the disease when other carcinogens are present. The study found arsenic at levels equivalent to 25-50 parts per billion (ppb) reduced the ability of genes in rat liver cells to recognize hormones called glucocorticoids, which help prevent tumor formation. Previous studies linked malfunction of the cell receptors for glucocorticoids
with cancer in lung and skin tissue. The researchers said the same process
could throw off blood glucose regulation, affecting diabetics, and contribute
to vascular disease. |
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