Are There Links Between Selenium Intake and Bladder Cancer?

摘要

Funded by SBRP for more than13 years, Dr. Margaret Karagas has led a series of large scale epidemiologic studies in New England to characterize the risk of cancer associated with exposures to environmentally relevant levels of arsenic. Her interdisciplinary research group, which includes epidemiologists, molecular biologists, biostatisticians, pathologists, clinical investigators, chemists, and geologists, has: Developed and tested ultra-trace analytic methods to measure and speciate multiple metals in environmental and biological samples; Determined that measurement of arsenic in toenail samples can serve as a biomarker of low dose arsenic exposures; Established a database of over 6,000 New Hampshire residents (controls, bladder cancer cases, and squamous and basal cell skin carcinoma cases) with extensive individual data, drinking water samples, biological samples, and tumor tissue samples; and Conducted GIS analyses of drinking water arsenic concentrations, identifying four distinct “clusters” of high household water arsenic levels, one near the Coakley Landfill Superfund site. Follow-on studies led to a geologically-based model of arsenic distribution in groundwater. Using these tools, Dr. Karagas’ research group was the first to provide information regarding individual biomarker exposure to arsenic and risk of cancers in a geographically defined US population. Their work established an association between arsenic in drinking water and an increased risk of bladder cancer.