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Arsenic Exposure and Immunotoxicity: a Review Including the Possible Influence of Age and Sex

  • Susceptibility Factors in Environmental Health (B Ritz, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that inorganic arsenic, a major environmental pollutant, exerts immunosuppressive effects in epidemiological, in vitro, and animal models. The mechanisms, however, remain unclear, and little is known about variation in susceptibilities due to age and sex. We performed a review of the experimental and epidemiologic evidence on the association of arsenic exposure and immune diseases. The majority of the studies described arsenic as a potent immunosuppressive compound, though others have reported an increase in allergy and autoimmune diseases, suggesting that arsenic may also act as an immune system stimulator, depending on the dose or timing of exposure. Limited information, due to either the high concentrations of arsenic used in in vitro studies or the use of non-human data for predicting human risks, is available from experimental studies. Moreover, although there is emerging evidence that health effects of arsenic manifest differently between men and women, we found limited information on sex differences on the immunotoxic effects of arsenic. In conclusion, preliminary data show that chronic early-life exposure to arsenic might impair immune responses, potentially leading to increased risk of infections and inflammatory-like diseases during childhood and in adulthood. Further investigation to evaluate effects of arsenic exposure on the developing immune system of both sexes, particularly in human cells and using concentrations relevant to human exposure, should be a research priority.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Varese, Italy

    Daniele Ferrario

  2. European Commission, DG JRC, Chemical Assessment and Testing (CAT) Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, TP 260, Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027, Ispra, VA, Italy

    Laura Gribaldo

  3. CAAT, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Thomas Hartung

  4. CAAT-Europe, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Thomas Hartung

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  1. Daniele Ferrario
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  2. Laura Gribaldo
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Correspondence to Laura Gribaldo.

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Daniele Ferrario, Laura Gribaldo, and Thomas Hartung declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article is a review of the literature and all the human and animal studies presented have been previously published in the peer review literature.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Susceptibility Factors in Environmental Health

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Ferrario, D., Gribaldo, L. & Hartung, T. Arsenic Exposure and Immunotoxicity: a Review Including the Possible Influence of Age and Sex. Curr Envir Health Rpt 3, 1–12 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-016-0082-3

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