Cations in malignant and benign brain tumors

Abstract

Several metals like zinc, cooper, selenium, manganese and chromium are essential nutrients for health and growth, at low doses but toxic at high doses. The toxicity of metals depends on the presence and/or absence of certain proteins like metalothionein (MT). Thus formation and/or deposition of MeHg in brain has been indicated in neurotoxicity whereas loss of structural integrity of brain membrane proteins has been established in tin toxicity. A number of metals have been implicated in cancer tissues. During the Gulf war in 1990, the blazing oil wells deposited organic carcinogens and metals like nickel, vanadium etc. at concentrations ranging 3–26 times higher than the normal levels. These contaminants eventually settled down in their salt form on the ground, imposing an eminent risk factor to human health resulting in an increased incidence of cancer cases in Kuwait. In search of possible causes for increased tumor incidence, different metals in human brain tumor tissues were investigated. The results show a significant increase in calcium, selenium, cobalt and nickel concentrations in malignant and benign brain tumors and an increment in vanadium concentration. The increased level of these metals in brain tissue may be correlated to the higher incidence of brain tumors as an aftermath of the Gulf war.