Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (2): 125-130,147.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2023.02.008

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Relationships between urine arsenic levels and relative telomere length in blood mononuclear cells among type-2 diabetic patients exposed to low levels of arsenic

LI Hongya1, LIAO Qinghua2, FU Haoxiang2, XIAO Baixiang3, SU Heng1, XIE Yirong1, LIU Jieyi1, WEI Qing1, WANG Feng1, PI Shurong1, CHEN Fubin1, ZHAO Zhiqiang4, HE Yun1   

  1. 1. Department of Health Toxicology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong;
    2. Guangdong Shaozhou People,s Hospital, Shaoguan 512000, Guangdong;
    3. Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi;
    4. Institute of Toxicology, Guangdong Province Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2023-01-14 Revised:2023-02-28 Published:2023-04-13

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Abstract: OBJECTIVE： To explore relationships between the relative telomere length of blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and urine arsenic concentration in type-2 diabetic patients exposed to low levels of arsenic. METHODS：A total of 574 patients with type 2 diabetes in South China were selected as the study objects. Basic information was collected and biochemical indicators were detected. Urine arsenic concentrations were detected using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) technology，and relative telomere lengths of PBMC were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology. The study subjects were divided into 3 groups according to their urine arsenic concentrations. Differences of biochemical indicators and PBMC relative telomere lengths among the 3 groups were compared. Single-and multi-factor ordinal logistic regressions were used to analyze influencing factors for the relative telomere lengths. The mediating effects of Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) between urine arsenic levels and relative telomere lengths were analyzed using SPSS Process 2.0. RESULTS：The median urine arsenic level in the patients was 29.80 μg/L， and the interquartile interval was 39.81 μg/L，and the relative telomere length was 0.82±0.60. The relative telomere length in low， medium and high arsenic groups were 1.04 ±0.92， 0.77±0.29 and 0.63±0.28， respectively. Differences of relative telomere lengths among the three groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses showed that urine arsenic was a risk factor for relative telomere length. Compared with the low arsenic group，the OR (95% CI) of the medium arsenic group was 2.149 (1.451， 3.182)， and that of the high arsenic group was 4.077 (2.687， 6.185)， the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01). The direct effect value of urine arsenic on relative telomere length was -0.287 (-0.369，-0.204). HbA1c was a mediating variable between urine arsenic and relative telomere length，with the mediating effect value being -0.072 (-0.106，-0.045) and the mediating proportion being 19.99%. CONCLUSION：Presence of arsenic in urine is a risk factor for relative telomere length of PBMC in type-2 diabetic patients： the higher the urine arsenic levels，the shorter the relative telomere lengths. The relative telomere length of PBMC in these patients may be a potential biomarker for arsenic exposures.

Key words: relative telomere length, urine arsenic, type 2 diabetes, low level arsenic exposure

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