1
|
Valcke M, Levasseur ME, Soares da Silva A, Wesseling C. Pesticide exposures and chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology: an epidemiologic review. Environ Health 2017; 16:49. [PMID: 28535811 PMCID: PMC5442867 DOI: 10.1186/s12940-017-0254-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Accepted: 05/08/2017] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The main causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) globally are diabetes and hypertension but epidemics of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) occur in Central America, Sri Lanka, India and beyond. Althoug also being observed in women, CKDu concentrates among men in agricultural sectors. Therefore, suspicions fell initially on pesticide exposure, but currently chronic heat stress and dehydration are considered key etiologic factors. Responding to persistent community and scientific concerns about the role of pesticides, we performed a systematic review of epidemiologic studies that addressed associations between any indicator of pesticide exposure and any outcome measure of CKD. Of the 21 analytical studies we identified, seven were categorized as with low, ten with medium and four with relatively high explanation value. Thirteen (62%) studies reported one or more positive associations, but four had a low explanation value and three presented equivocal results. The main limitations of both positive and negative studies were unspecific and unquantified exposure measurement ('pesticides'), the cross-sectional nature of most studies, confounding and selection bias. The four studies with stronger designs and better exposure assessment (from Sri Lanka, India and USA) all showed exposure-responses or clear associations, but for different pesticides in each study, and three of these studies were conducted in areas without CKDu epidemics. No study investigated interactions between pesticides and other concommittant exposures in agricultural occupations, in particular heat stress and dehydration. In conclusion, existing studies provide scarce evidence for an association between pesticides and regional CKDu epidemics but, given the poor pesticide exposure assessment in the majority, a role of nephrotoxic agrochemicals cannot be conclusively discarded. Future research should procure assessment of lifetime exposures to relevant specific pesticides and enough power to look into interactions with other major risk factors, in particular heat stress.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Valcke
- WHO-PAHO Collaborating Centre on Environmental and Occupational Health Impact Assessment and Surveillance INSPQ-CHUQ-DSPQ, 945, Avenue Wolfe, Québec, G1V 5B3 Canada
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128 Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, H3C 3J7 Canada
| | - Marie-Eve Levasseur
- WHO-PAHO Collaborating Centre on Environmental and Occupational Health Impact Assessment and Surveillance INSPQ-CHUQ-DSPQ, 945, Avenue Wolfe, Québec, G1V 5B3 Canada
| | - Agnes Soares da Silva
- Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 525 Twenty-third Street, N.W, Washington DC, 20037 USA
| | - Catharina Wesseling
- Department of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, SE Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Stiborová M, Arlt VM, Schmeiser HH. Balkan endemic nephropathy: an update on its aetiology. Arch Toxicol 2016; 90:2595-2615. [PMID: 27538407 PMCID: PMC5065591 DOI: 10.1007/s00204-016-1819-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/04/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a unique, chronic renal disease frequently associated with upper urothelial cancer (UUC). It only affects residents of specific farming villages located along tributaries of the Danube River in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania where it is estimated that ~100,000 individuals are at risk of BEN, while ~25,000 have the disease. This review summarises current findings on the aetiology of BEN. Over the last 50 years, several hypotheses on the cause of BEN have been formulated, including mycotoxins, heavy metals, viruses, and trace-element insufficiencies. However, recent molecular epidemiological studies provide a strong case that chronic dietary exposure to aristolochic acid (AA) a principal component of Aristolochia clematitis which grows as a weed in the wheat fields of the endemic regions is the cause of BEN and associated UUC. One of the still enigmatic features of BEN that need to be resolved is why the prevalence of BEN is only 3-7 %. This suggests that individual genetic susceptibilities to AA exist in humans. In fact dietary ingestion of AA along with individual genetic susceptibility provides a scenario that plausibly can explain all the peculiarities of BEN such as geographical distribution and high risk of urothelial cancer. For the countries harbouring BEN implementing public health measures to avoid AA exposure is of the utmost importance because this seems to be the best way to eradicate this once mysterious disease to which the residents of BEN villages have been completely and utterly at mercy for so long.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marie Stiborová
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 2030, 128 40, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
| | - Volker M Arlt
- Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division, MRC-PHE Centre for Environmental and Health, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK
- NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Health Impact of Environmental Hazards at King's College London in partnership with Public Health England, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK
| | - Heinz H Schmeiser
- Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry (E030), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Kupferman J, Amador JJ, Lynch KE, Laws RL, López-Pilarte D, Ramírez-Rubio O, Kaufman JS, Lau JL, Weiner DE, Robles NV, Verma KP, Scammell MK, McClean MD, Brooks DR, Friedman DJ. Characterization of Mesoamerican Nephropathy in a Kidney Failure Hotspot in Nicaragua. Am J Kidney Dis 2016; 68:716-725. [PMID: 27575010 DOI: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2016.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mesoamerican nephropathy (MeN) is a kidney disease of unknown cause that mainly affects working-age men in Central America. Despite being a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this region, its clinical characteristics have not been well defined. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional family-based study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 266 members of 24 families with high chronic kidney disease (CKD) burdens in a MeN hotspot in Northwestern Nicaragua. We compared clinical and biochemical characteristics of affected individuals first with their unaffected relatives and then with NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) participants with CKD in order to reveal identifying features of MeN. PREDICTOR CKD defined as serum creatinine level ≥ 1.5mg/dL in men and ≥1.4mg/dL in women. OUTCOMES Clinical and biochemical parameters, including serum sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and uric acid. RESULTS Hyperuricemia, in many cases severe, was common among patients with MeN. Uric acid levels in patients with MeN were higher than those in NHANES participants (mean, 9.6 vs 7.4mg/dL for men in each group) despite more frequent use of uric acid-lowering medications in Nicaraguan individuals (71.7% vs 11.2%). In multivariable linear mixed-effects regression analysis, uric acid levels were 2.0mg/dL (95% CI, 1.0-3.0; P<0.001) higher in patients with MeN compared with their NHANES counterparts after adjusting for age, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and uric acid-lowering therapies. In contrast to prior reports, hyponatremia and hypokalemia were not common. LIMITATIONS CKD defined by single serum creatinine measurement; population likely not representative of full MeN phenotype spectrum across Central America; major differences between MeN and NHANES groups in important characteristics such as age, ancestry, and recruitment method. CONCLUSIONS Hyperuricemia out of proportion to the degree of decreased kidney function was common among Nicaraguan patients with MeN. Our results suggest that rather than being solely a consequence of CKD, hyperuricemia may play a role in MeN pathogenesis, a hypothesis that deserves further study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Kupferman
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Juan José Amador
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | - Katherine E Lynch
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Rebecca L Laws
- Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | | | - Oriana Ramírez-Rubio
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | - James S Kaufman
- Research Service, VA New York Harbor Healthcare System and Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY
| | - Jorge Luis Lau
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, León, Nicaragua
| | - Daniel E Weiner
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
| | - Ninoska Violeta Robles
- Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico y Referencia, Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, Managua, Nicaragua
| | - Karina P Verma
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Madeleine K Scammell
- Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | - Michael D McClean
- Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | - Daniel R Brooks
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
| | - David J Friedman
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Malik A, Bissinger R, Calabrò S, Faggio C, Jilani K, Lang F. Aristolochic acid induced suicidal erythrocyte death. Kidney Blood Press Res 2014; 39:408-19. [PMID: 25412628 DOI: 10.1159/000368454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS Aristolochic Acid, a component of Aristolochia plants, has been shown to cause acute kidney injury, renal aristolochic acid nephropathy, Balkan endemic nephropathy, and urothelial carcinoma. Aristolochic acid nephropathy may be associated with severe anemia. The anemia could theoretically be due to stimulation of eryptosis, the suicidal death of erythrocytes characterized by cell shrinkage and cell membrane scrambling with translocation of phosphatidylserine to the erythrocyte cell membrane surface. Signalling involved in the stimulation of eryptosis include increase of cytosolic Ca(2+)-activity ([Ca(2+)]i) and formation of ceramide. METHODS Cell volume was estimated from forward scatter, phosphatidylserine-exposure from annexin V binding, [Ca(2+)]i from Fluo3 fluorescence, and ceramide abundance from binding of fluorescent antibodies in flow cytometry. RESULTS A 48 hours exposure to Aristolochic Acid (≥ 75 µg/ml) was followed by a significant decrease of forward scatter and increase of annexin-V-binding. The effects were paralleled by a significant increase of [Ca(2+)]i and significantly blunted, but not abrogated by removal of extracellular Ca(2+). Aristolochic Acid further significantly increased ceramide abundance. CONCLUSIONS Aristolochic Acid triggers eryptosis, an effect at least in part due to entry of extracellular Ca(2+) and ceramide formation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abaid Malik
- Department of Physiology, University of Tuebingen, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|