Effects of glyphosate exposure on human health: Insights from epidemiological and in vitro studies.

Glyphosate (GLY) is a broad-spectrum, post-emergent, non-selective and synthetic universal herbicide, whose commercial formulations are referred to as glyphosate-based-herbicides (GBHs). These chemicals and their metabolites can be found in soil, air, water, as well as groundwater and food products. This review summarizes to summarize current in vitro and epidemiological studies investigating the effects of GLY exposure on human health. Recent human cell studies have reported several GLY and GBH toxicological effects and have contributed to a better understanding of the deleterious consequences associated with their exposure. However, these detrimental effects are dependent on the cell type, chemical composition, as well as magnitude and time of exposure, among other factors. Moreover, the deleterious effects of GLY exposure on human health were observed in epidemiological studies; however, most of these studies have not determined the GLY dosage to confirm a direct effect. While GLY toxicity is clear in human cells, epidemiological studies investigating individuals exposed to different levels of GLY have reported contradictory data. Therefore, based on currently available in vitro and epidemiological data, it is not possible to confirm the complete safety of GLY use, which will require additional comprehensive studies in animal models and humans.

Presence of infection and analysis of HPV subtypes in girls younger than 9 years old attended at a referral service in Espírito Santo, Brazil.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is found in adults and adolescents and is associated with genital warts and cervical cancer. However, it has been detected in girls younger than 10 years old. Currently, there are no prevention methods for this age group, since it is not considered a risk group. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of infection and HPV subtype in girls under 9 years old attended at a referral service in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Forty-three girls younger than 9 years old had gynecological brush samples collected from vulval and perineal/anal regions. Viral detection and subtyping were done using polymerase chain reaction, restriction fragment length polymorphism and DNA sequencing. Statistics was performed using Action Stat 3.1. The mean age of girls was 6.1 years. Sexual activity and abuse were not reported by 95.3%. Family stories showed viral infection in 9.3% of mothers, 4.7% of fathers and 9.3% of caretakers. None of these were related with the children infection. In the only case of mother's gestational HPV infection, the daughter tested negative. Genital warts and infection were observed in 7% and 13.9% of the patients, respectively. Viral subtypes detected were 6, 11, 38, and 42. These results demonstrate the presence of HPV infection in girls under 9 years of age. Prevalence studies are needed in order to evaluate a possible alteration in age of vaccination policy.

ATM, BCL2, and TGFß Gene Polymorphisms as Radiotherapy Outcome Biomarkers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients.

AIMS: Polymorphisms in cell cycle genes are considered prognostic as radiosensitivity markers in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship of ATM 5557G>A, ATM IVS62 + 60G>A, TP53 215G>C, BCL2-938C>A, TGFß-509C>T, and TGFß 29C>T with radiotherapy response. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism in 210 patients with oral cavity/oropharyngeal carcinoma and 101 patients with laryngeal tumors. RESULTS: In irradiated oral cavity/oropharyngeal tumors, the ATM IVS62 + 60G>A AA genotype significantly increased local recurrence risk (odds ratio [OR] = 4.43; confidence interval [CI] = 1.22-16.13) and the BCL2-938C>A C allele and the TGFß-509C>T T allele were associated with worse disease-specific survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.46; CI = 0.24-0.90 and HR = 2.20; CI = 1.12-4.29, respectively). In irradiated laryngeal carcinoma, the TGFß 29C>T C allele was associated with increased local recurrence risk (OR = 0.09; CI = 0.02-0.53), death rate (OR = 0.18; CI = 0.04-0.86), and worse local disease-free and disease-specific survival rates (HR = 0.13; CI = 0.03-0.59 and HR = 0.21; CI = 0.07-0.60, respectively), while the BCL2-938C>A C allele was related to a worse disease-specific survival (HR = 0.32; CI = 0.12-0.83). DISCUSSION: These results can help individualize treatment according to a patient's genetic markers. We demonstrated that ATM IVS62 + 60G>A, TGFß 29C>T, TGFß-509C>T, and BCL2-938C>A can function as biomarkers of tumor radiosensitivity, being candidates for a predictive genetic profile of radiotherapy response.