Environmental studies performed in Panasqueira mine area (central Portugal) identified high concentrations of
several metal(loid)s in environmental media, and individuals environmentally and occupationally exposed
showed higher levels of As, Cr, Mg, Mn, Mo, Pb and Zn in blood, urine, hair and nails when compared to
unexposed controls. To evaluate the presence of immunological alterations attributable to environmental
contamination, we quantified neopterin, kynurenine, tryptophan, and nitrite concentrations in plasma, and
analysed the percentage of several lymphocytes subsets, namely CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, CD19+ B-cells,
and CD16+56+ natural killer (NK) cells in a group of individuals previously tested for metal(loid) levels in different
biological matrices. The environmentally exposed group had significantly lower levels of %CD8+ and higher
CD4+/CD8+ ratios, whereas the occupationally exposed individuals showed significant decreases in %CD3+ and
%CD4+, and significant increases in %CD16+56+, when compared to controls. Analysed biomarkers were found
to be influenced by age, particularly neopterin, kynurenine and kynurenine to tryptophan ratio (Kyn/Trp) with
significantly higher levels in older individuals, and %CD3+, %CD8+ and %CD19+ with significantly lower values
in older individuals. Males environmentally exposed showed significantly lower values of %CD19+ when
compared to control females. The concentration of Pb in toenails was associated to the level of neopterin,
kynurenine and Kyn/Trp ratio (all direct), and the concentration of Mn in blood to the level of %CD8+, %CD19+
(both inverse) and CD4+/CD8+ ratio (direct). Overall our results show that the metal(loid) contamination in
Panasqueira mine area induced immunotoxic effects in exposed populations, possibly increasing susceptibility
to diseases.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the grant SFRH/BD/47781/2008 and the project PTDC/SAU-ESA/102367/2008, and by the European Commission (ERA NET — New INDIGO Program, NanoLINEN project, PIM2010ENI-00632). The work of Roberto Zoffoli, Valentina Dall'Armi, and Stefano Bonassi was supported by grants funded by the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC)
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