RT Journal Article
T1 Toenail zinc as a biomarker: Relationship with sources of environmental exposure and with genetic variability in MCC-Spain study
A1 Gutiérrez González, Enrique
A1 Alguacil Ojeda, Juan
A1 Gómez Ariza, José Luis
A1 Pérez Gómez, Beatriz
AB Background: Toenails are commonly used as biomarkers of exposure to zinc (Zn), but there is scarce informationabout their relationship with sources of exposure to Zn.Objectives: To investigate the main determinants of toenail Zn, including selected sources of environmentalexposure to Zn and individual genetic variability in Zn metabolism.Methods: We determined toenail Zn by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in 3,448 general populationcontrols from the MultiCase-Control study MCC-Spain. We assessed dietary and supplement Zn intakeusing food frequency questionnaires, residential proximity to Zn-emitting industries and residential topsoil Znlevels through interpolation methods. We constructed a polygenic score of genetic variability based on 81 singlenucleotide polymorphisms in genes involved in Zn metabolism. Geometric mean ratios of toenail Zn acrosscategories of each determinant were estimated from multivariate linear regression models on log-transformedtoenail Zn.Results: Geometric mean toenail Zn was 104.1 μg/g in men and 100.3 μg/g in women. Geometric mean toenail Znlevels were 7 % lower (95 % confidence interval 1–13 %) in men older than 69 years and those in the uppertertile of fibre intake, and 9 % higher (3–16 %) in smoking men. Women residing within 3 km from Zn-emittingindustries had 4 % higher geometric mean toenail Zn levels (0–9 %). Dietary Zn intake and polygenic score wereunrelated to toenail Zn. Overall, the available determinants only explained 9.3 % of toenail Zn variability in menand 4.8 % in women.Discussion: Sociodemographic factors, lifestyle, diet, and environmental exposure explained little of the individualvariability of toenail Zn in the study population. The available genetic variants related to Zn metabolismwere not associated with toenail Zn.
PB Elsevier
SN 0160-4120
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21702
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/21702
LA eng
NO Gutiérrez-González, E., Fernández-Navarro, P., Pastor-Barriuso, R., García-Pérez, J., Castaño-Vinyals, G., Martín-Sánchez, V., Amiano, P., Gómez-Acebo, I., Guevara, M., Fernández-Tardón, G., Salcedo-Bellido, I., Moreno, V., Pinto-Carbó, M., Alguacil, J., Marcos-Gragera, R., Gómez-Gómez, J. H., Gómez-Ariza, J. L., García-Barrera, T., Varea-Jiménez, E., … Pérez-Gómez, B. (2022). Toenail zinc as a biomarker: Relationship with sources of environmental exposure and with genetic variability in MCC-Spain study. In Environment International (Vol. 169, p. 107525). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107525
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026