Concentration of heavy metals and rare earth elements in patients with brain tumours: Analysis in tumour tissue, non-tumour tissue, and blood

ABSTRACT

Inorganic elements have been associated with brain tumours for long. The blood concentration of 47 elements was assessed by ICP-MS in 26 brain tumour patients and 21 healthy subjects from Bucharest (Romania). All 47 elements were detected in the brain tumour tissue, and 22 were detected in > 80% of samples; this implies that these elements can cross the blood-brain barrier. Median blood levels of cadmium, lead, and nickel were higher than the reference values (1.14, 53.3, and 2.53 ng/mL). Gadolinium and tantalum showed significantly higher concentrations among cases. We observed considerable differences and different profiles of the presence of inorganic elements between the tumour and non-tumour brain tissue and between tissue from the primary tumour and tissue from brain metastasis. Our data suggest that similar to heavy metals, other elements – commonly used in high tech devices and rare earth elements – can also influence brain tumour.

KEYWORDS:

• Brain tumor
• heavy metals
• rare earth element
• biomonitoring
• brain tissue

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This work was possible with funding obtained by L. Gaman from UEFISCDI–Grant for international mobility Ctr.403/2018 PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2018-1915/2018 fellowship for international mobility, 2018.