Associations of total arsenic in drinking water, hair and nails with serum vascular endothelial growth factor in arsenic-endemic individuals in Bangladesh Mashiur Rahman a,1 , Abdullah Al Mamun a,1 , Md. Rezaul Karim b , Khairul Islam a , Hasan Al Amin a , Shakhawoat Hossain a , Md. Imam Hossain a , Zahangir Alam Saud a , Abu Shadat Mohammod Noman c , Hideki Miyataka b , Seiichiro Himeno b , Khaled Hossain a,⇑ a Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh b Laboratory of Molecular Nutrition and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Tokushima 770-8514, Japan c Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh highlights  Water, hair and nail arsenic showed unique associations with serum VEGF levels.  Arsenic exposure showed precise nature of dose-response relationship with VEGF levels.  All the observed associations were significant after adjusting with relevant covariates.  Increased serum VEGF may cause angiogenesis for arsenic-induced cancers and CVD. article info Article history: Received 13 January 2014 Received in revised form 1 August 2014 Accepted 2 August 2014 Handling Editor: Tamara S. Galloway Keywords: Arsenic Vascular endothelial growth factor Angiogenesis Cancer Bangladesh abstract Arsenic exposure is associated with cancer and vascular diseases. Angiogenesis is an important step for the pathological development of cancer and vascular diseases. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a specific marker for angiogenesis. However, human study showing the association between arsenic exposure and serum VEGF levels has not yet been documented. This study was aimed to investigate the association between arsenic exposure and serum VEGF levels in the arsenic-endemic individuals in Bangladesh. A total of 260 individuals were recruited for this study. Arsenic exposure levels were mea- sured by ICP-MS and VEGF levels were quantified using VEGF immunoassay kit. The study subjects were stratified into tertile (low, medium and high) groups based on the arsenic in water, hair and nails. Serum VEGF levels were correlated with water (r s = 0.363, p < 0.001), hair (r s = 0.205, p < 0.01) and nail (r s = 0.190, p < 0.01) arsenic. Further, VEGF levels showed dose–response relationships with water, hair and nail arsenic. Mean VEGF levels in 6 10 lgL 1 , 10.1–50 lgL 1 and >50 lgL 1 groups were 91.84, 129.54, and 169.86 pg mL 1 , respectively, however, significant (p < 0.01) difference in VEGF levels was only found in >50 lgL 1 versus 610 lgL 1 groups. Significant associations of arsenic exposure with VEGF levels were found even after adjusting with relevant covariates. Therefore, these results provide evidence that arsenic exposure has a pro-angiogenic effect on humans, which may be implicated in arsenic-induced tumorigenesis and vascular diseases. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Chronic arsenic poisoning has become a major public health concern in many countries. Bangladesh is the most severely affected country in the world where approximately 80 millions of people are currently at risk of toxicity due to drinking of arsenic contaminated ground water (Caldwell et al., 2003; Chowdhury, 2004). World Health Organization (WHO) has described arsenic toxicity in Bangladesh as the largest mass poisoning of a http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.08.003 0045-6535/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +88 0721 711109 (O), mobile: +88 01726884046; fax: +88 0721 750064. E-mail addresses: mashiurru@gmail.com (M. Rahman), amamun42@gmail.com (A.A. Mamun), mrkarimanft@gmail.com (M.R. Karim), drkhairul16@gmail. com(K. Islam), mhasan7988@gmail.com (H.A. Amin), saka3703@yahoo.com (S. Hossain), imubcmb@gmail.com (M.I. Hossain), zasaud@yahoo.com (Z.A. Saud), asmnomancubd@gmail.com (A.S.M. Noman), hideki@ph.bunri-u.ac.jp (H. Miyataka), himenos@ph.bunri-u.ac.jp (S. Himeno), khossainbio@gmail.com (K. Hossain). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. Chemosphere 120 (2015) 336–342 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere