Impact of heavy metal carcinogens on human health

Abstract

During the development of human activities, it has been noticed that such activities contribute to the discharge of toxic chemicals like metals and metalloids into the atmosphere. These toxic metals are accumulated in the dietary articles of human beings. Food chain polluted with toxic metals and metalloids is a significant path of human exposure and thus may cause a number of hazardous effects on human health. Nevertheless, cancer is a leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and premature death worldwide. Certain approaches like less exposure to carcinogenic factors can reduce the risk of most cancer types in human. Epigenetic variations in the etiology of cancer have led to increasing of cancer research studies in the recent years. Although epigenetic effects of these elements have more prominent role than their genetic effects, these elements are able to alter the pattern of cancer-related genes' expression profiles. Hence, an understanding of the principal epigenetically mechanisms of these trace elements and the compounds that could reduce their toxicities or the number of cancer cases is necessary. Conceivably, the toxic effects of these elements in many regions are anticipated but antioxidant supplements may eradicate the reactive oxygen species as foremost effects of these elements. In this chapter, we tried to focus on various studies dealing with epigenetic effects of carcinogens on human health.