Name: Larissa Leffers
Staatsexamen: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
(November 2009)


PhD Project: Cellular toxicity of food relevant arsenicals

Abstract of Research Project

Inorganic arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen both after oral exposure and inhalation. The EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain has concluded in their recent Scientific Opinion on Arsenic in Food that risks to human health related to the presence of inorganic arsenic in food cannot be excluded. Furthermore, recent advances in analytical technology have highlighted groups of previously unknown organic arsenicals in seafood and fish samples, namely arsenosugars and arsenolipids. In the case of the arsenosugars and arsenolipids, no risk assessment is currently possible due to a total lack of toxicological studies. This is extremely problematic since the average population consumes high amounts of these compounds and it has been shown that, in contrast to the situation with arsenobetain, humans can efficiently metabolise arsenosugars and arsenolipids. In my doctoral thesis I will study the cellular bioavailability, biotransformation and toxicity of arsenosugars, arsenolipides and related metabolites. In detail the compounds will be studied with respect to their cellular toxicity, direct (induction of DNA damage and micronuclei), and indirect genotoxicity (effects on DNA repair processes) as well as their transport across an intestinal barrier model (Caco-2 cells). These studies will contribute to the urgently needed risk assessment of these compounds.



Publications

L. Leffers, M. Unterberg, M. Bartel, C. Hoppe, I. Pieper, J. Stertmann, F. Ebert, H.-U. Humpf, T. Schwerdtle
In vitro toxicological characterisation of the S-containing arsenic metabolites thio-dimethylarsinic acid and dimethylarsinic glutathione
Toxicology 305 (2013), 109-119.


Larissa Leffers
eMail: Larissa Leffers