Cadmium urinary biomarkers

Cadmium levels in blood are generally recognised as a biomarker of recent exposure to cadmium. It can also be used as biomarker of cumulative internal dose and accumulation of cadmium, buf only when fhere is long-term (decade long) continuous exposure, for example in subsistence farmers consuming their own crops. Cadmium levels in urine are a widely recognised biomarker of cumulative internal dose, kidney and body burden of Cd. Dose-response relationships between urinary Cd and occurrence of kidney effects are described in the subsequent sections of this chapter "Sweden", "Japan", "Belgium", and "Other countries". 

Jin T, Nordberg GF, Wu X, Ye T, Kong Q, Wang Z, Zhuang F and Cal S. Urinary N-Acetyl- 3-D-glucosaminidase isoenzymes as biomarker of renal dysfunction caused by cadmium in a general population. Environ Res Sect A 1999 81 167-173. 

After chronic exposure, cadmium accumulates in the human body and causes kidney diseases, especially lesions of proximal tubular cells. A tubular proteinuria causes an increase in urinary excretion of microproteins. Excretions of retinol binding protein (RBP), (32-microglobulin ((32-M), and a 1-microglobulin are validated biomarkers for analyzing cadmium effects. For this purpose, immunological procedures such as ELISA, and radio- and latex-immunoassays are used. 

---