Anticancer drugs in the aquatic ecosystem: Environmental occurrence, ecotoxicological effect and risk assessment

Dan Li; Hongxing Chen; Hongsong Liu; Daniel Schlenk; Jingli Mu; Silvia Lacorte; Guang-Guo Ying; Lingtian Xie

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106543

Anticancer drugs in the aquatic ecosystem: Environmental occurrence, ecotoxicological effect and risk assessment

Environ Int. 2021 Aug:153:106543. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106543. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Authors

Dan Li¹, Hongxing Chen¹, Hongsong Liu¹, Daniel Schlenk², Jingli Mu³, Silvia Lacorte⁴, Guang-Guo Ying⁵, Lingtian Xie⁶

Affiliations

¹ SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92507, USA.
³ Fujian Key Laboratory of Functional Marine Sensing Materials, Institute of Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
⁴ Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: guangguo.ying@m.scnu.edu.cn.
⁶ SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: lingtian.xie@m.scnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33813231
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106543

Abstract

Anticancer drugs are a group of therapeutic agents used to enhance cell death in targeted cell types of neoplasia. Because of frequent use and eventual discharge, they have been often detected in wastewater from pharmaceutical factories and hospitals, domestic wastewater, and surface waters. The occurrence of these drugs in aquatic ecosystems and their effects on aquatic organisms have been poorly characterized. This review focuses on the global occurrence of major classes of anticancer drugs in water and sediments of freshwater ecosystems and their ecotoxicological effects at different biological levels. While the availability of data is fairly limited, concentrations of most anticancer drugs range from < 2 ng/L to 762 µg/L in receiving water, while levels in sediments and sludge vary from 0.25 to 42.5 µg/kg. Their detection frequencies were 58%, 52% (78%) and 59% in hospital wastewater, wastewater treatment plant effluents (influents) and surface water, respectively. Predicted log K_ow values of vincristine, imatinib mesylate and tamoxifen are higher than 3 and have estimated half-lives>60 d in waters using quantitative structure-activity relationship models, indicating high potential for persistence and bioaccumulation. Based on a species sensitivity distribution evaluation of 9 compounds, crustaceans are most sensitive to anticancer drugs. The most hazardous compound is cisplatin which has a hazard concentration at the 5th percentile. For Daphnia magna, the acute toxicities of major classes of anticancer drugs are ranked as platinum complexes > endocrine therapy agents > antibiotics > antimetabolite agents > alkylating agents. Using hazard quotient analysis based primarily on the lowest observed effect concentrations (LOECs), cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, imatinib mesylate, bicalutamide, etoposide and paclitaxel have the highest hazard for aquatic organisms. Further research is needed to identify appropriate chronic endpoints for risk assessment thresholds as well as to better understand the mechanisms of action and the potential multigenerational toxicity, and trophic transfer in ecosystems.

Keywords: Antineoplastics; Aquatic organisms; Freshwater ecosystems; Hazard quotient; Species sensitivity distribution.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Antineoplastic Agents* / analysis
Antineoplastic Agents* / toxicity
Ecosystem
Ecotoxicology
Environmental Monitoring
Risk Assessment
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / toxicity

Substances

Antineoplastic Agents
Water Pollutants, Chemical