Metabolomic signatures of exposure to nitrate and trihalomethanes in drinking water and colorectal cancer risk in a Spanish Multicentric Study (MCC-Spain)

We investigated the metabolomic profile associated with exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) and nitrate in drinking water and with colorectal cancer risk in 296 cases and 295 controls from the Multi Case-Control Spain project. Untargeted metabolomic analysis was conducted in blood samples using ultra...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Alcolea, Jose A., Donat-Vargas, Carolina, Chatziioannou, Anastasia Chrysovalantou, Keski-Rahkonen, Pekka, Robinot, Nivonirina, Molina, Antonio J., Amiano, Pilar, Gómez-Acebo, Inés, Castaño Vinyals, Gemma, Maitre, Léa, Chadeau-Hyam, Marc, Dagnino, Sonia, Cheng, Sibo Lucas, Scalbert, Augustin, Vineis, Paolo, Kogevinas, Manolis, Villanueva Belmonte, Cristina
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/60990
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60990
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05814
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:-omics
Blood
Colorectal cancer
Disinfection byproducts
Drinking water
Environment
Epidemiology
Exposome
Exposure
Metabolomics
Nitrate
Trihalomethanes
Untargeted
Description
Summary:We investigated the metabolomic profile associated with exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) and nitrate in drinking water and with colorectal cancer risk in 296 cases and 295 controls from the Multi Case-Control Spain project. Untargeted metabolomic analysis was conducted in blood samples using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A variety of univariate and multivariate association analyses were conducted after data quality control, normalization, and imputation. Linear regression and partial least-squares analyses were conducted for chloroform, brominated THMs, total THMs, and nitrate among controls and for case-control status, together with a N-integration model discriminating colorectal cancer cases from controls through interrogation of correlations between the exposure variables and the metabolomic features. Results revealed a total of 568 metabolomic features associated with at least one water contaminant or colorectal cancer. Annotated metabolites and pathway analysis suggest a number of pathways as potentially involved in the link between exposure to these water contaminants and colorectal cancer, including nicotinamide, cytochrome P-450, and tyrosine metabolism. These findings provide insights into the underlying biological mechanisms and potential biomarkers associated with water contaminant exposure and colorectal cancer risk. Further research in this area is needed to better understand the causal relationship and the public health implications.