We report the association of levels of urinary arsenic (As) compounds (arsenite (AsIII), arsenate (AsV), monomethylarsonic acid (MMAV), dimethylarsinic acid (DMAV), and arsenobetaine (AB)) with genetic polymorphisms of candidate genes, glutathione S-transferase omega 1 (GSTO1) and 2 (GSTO2), mu 1 (GSTM1), and theta 1 (GSTT1), arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT), methylenetetr...

Organisms have evolved the ability to tolerate toxic substances in their environments, often by producing metabolic enzymes that efficiently detoxify the toxicant. Inorganic arsenic is one of the most toxic and carcinogenic substances in the environment, but many organisms, including humans, metabolise inorganic arsenic to less toxic metabolites. This multistep process produces mono-, di-, and ...

We examined the association between the selected polymorphisms in two candidate genes, the arsenite methyltransferase gene (AS3MT, rs11191454) and the inter-α-trypsin inhibitors heavy chain-3 gene (ITIH3, rs2535629), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a Korean population. A total of 238 patients with ADHD, along with both of their biological parents, were recruited. The chil...

In many locations the contamination of drinking water with inorganic arsenic has occurred relatively recently in evolutionary time. But in the Andes highlands, people have consumed water containing arsenic for at least several thousand years due to pre-Columbian mining activities and arsenic-tinged natural reservoirs; Andean mummies dating back 7,000 years have high arsenic concentrations in th...

Arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (As3mt) catalyzes reactions which convert inorganic arsenic to methylated metabolites. This study determined whether the As3mt null genotype in the mouse modifies cytotoxic and proliferative effects seen in urinary bladders of wild type mice after exposure to inorganic arsenic. Female wild type C57BL/6 mice and As3mt KO mice were divided into 3 gro...

Exposure to inorganic arsenic increases the risk of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Arsenic metabolism is a susceptibility factor for arsenic toxicity, and specific haplotypes in arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) have been associated with increased urinary fractions of the most toxic arsenic metabolite, methylarsonic acid (MMA). The aim of this study is to elucidate the associa...

OBJECTIVES The susceptibility to arsenic (As)-induced diseases differs greatly between individuals, probably to a large extent due to genetic differences in arsenic metabolism. The aim for this study was to identify genetic variants affecting arsenic metabolism. METHODS We evaluated the association between urinary metabolite pattern and polymorphisms in three gene-groups related to arsenic me...

In humans, arsenic is primarily metabolized by arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (As3MT) to yield both trivalent and pentavalent methylated metabolites. We recently reported that the putative N-6 adenine-specific DNA methyltransferase 1 (N6AMT1) can biotransform monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)) to dimethylarsinic acid, conferring resistance of human cells to arsenic exposure. To ...

Arsenic is a carcinogen associated with skin lesions and cardiovascular diseases. The Colla population from the Puna region in Northwest Argentinean is exposed to levels of arsenic in drinking water exceeding the recommended maximum by a factor of 20. Yet, they thrive in this challenging environment since thousands of years and therefore we hypothesize strong selection signatures in genes invol...

Groundwater pollution by arsenic is a serious worldwide problem, especially in developing Asian and African countries. Large inter-individual variation in the arsenic metabolism has been reported. Human arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) is known to catalyze the methylation of arsenite. The M287T polymorphism in AS3MT is considered to be related to inter-individual variation...