Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils and Gastric Cancer Risk: Molecular Insights and the Relevance of a One Health Perspective

Author: mycolabadmin
11/27/2025
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Summary

Heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, and lead contaminate agricultural soils and accumulate in crops such as rice and vegetables, which people consume as part of their daily diet. These metals damage stomach cell DNA and trigger inflammation, increasing cancer risk, especially when combined with bacterial infections like H. pylori. A comprehensive approach monitoring soil quality, crop safety, and human health together can help prevent this disease and protect communities from contamination.

Background

Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils, particularly cadmium, arsenic, and lead, has emerged as a critical environmental and public health issue associated with increased gastric cancer incidence worldwide. These metals persist in the environment and enter the human body primarily through the soil-plant-food chain, representing a significant exposure pathway in contaminated agricultural regions and mining areas.

Objective

This review integrates environmental, molecular, and epidemiological evidence to explain how cadmium, arsenic, and lead alter gastric mucosal biology and promote carcinogenesis. The objective is to synthesize molecular mechanisms of heavy metal-induced gastric cancer while demonstrating the importance of adopting an integrated One Health perspective that spans soil contamination, agricultural production, and human disease.

Results

Heavy metals trigger oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, and epigenetic reprogramming leading to genomic instability and malignant transformation. These molecular disruptions interact with Helicobacter pylori infection, microbial dysbiosis, chronic inflammation, and hypoxia-driven stromal remodeling to enhance angiogenesis and tumor progression. Advanced experimental platforms including gastric organoids, immune co-cultures, and humanized models are elucidating these complex interactions.

Conclusion

A One Health approach integrating environmental contamination monitoring, agricultural production assessment, and molecular biomarkers in exposed populations is essential for designing preventive strategies. Strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration combining soil and crop analysis with clinical molecular markers is crucial to guide remediation policies and protect human, animal, and environmental health.

Published in:International Journal of Molecular Sciences,
Study Type:Review,
Source: PMID: 41373680, DOI: 10.3390/ijms262311526