High Concentrations of Uranium, Barium, and Lead in Cancer Patients and Healthy Controls in the Malwa Region of Punjab, India

Background: Anthropogenic risk factors contribute worldwide to an unfavorable environmental situation, which in the population can lead to cancer and other environmental-related diseases. Heavy metals accumulate in tissues and affect human health.

Objectives: This review evaluates data for the possible role of uranium (U), barium (Ba), and lead (Pb) in the cancer development in people living in the Malwa Region of Punjab, India.

Methods: A literature search was performed using the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Publications in English were included. Preference was given to studies of high methodological quality (systematic reviews and surveys of studies of various designs). The results of cross-sectional studies were taken into account.

Discussion: A study has shown that cancer patients in the Malwa region of Punjab, India have unexpectedly high concentrations of U, Ba, and Pb in hair. We hypothesize that higher hair concentrations of U and other bone-seeking elements in hair of cancer patients may be due to the release of these elements from the skeleton, partly because of the patients age (following the menopause in women) and partly due to disease factors such as bed rest, bone metastases, and enhanced glucocorticoid secretion.

Conclusions: Further research is needed to distinguish the effect of age on bone-seeking elements from real disease associations, regardless of the relationship with the pathology is a causal one or not.