ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2015
Mercury Exposure and Antinuclear Antibodies among Females of Reproductive Age in the United States: NHANES.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inorganic contaminants in fish of the Mediterranean Sea: biomonitoring and toxicologic analysis.Italian journal of food safety · 2026Article
- Genetic relationships between systemic lupus erythematosus and a positive antinuclear antibody test in the absence of autoimmune disease.Lupus science & medicine · 2025Article
- Mercury poisoning-associated membranous nephropathy and autoimmune encephalitis.BMC nephrology · 2025Article
- Dietary Fatty Acids and Antinuclear Antibodies Among Adults with Arthritis in the United States: NHANES 1999-2004.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Association between antinuclear antibodies status and preterm birth in Japanese pregnant women: a prospective cohort study from Adjunct Study of the Japan Environment and Children's Study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Sex-specific relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and antinuclear antibodies in U.S. adults, NHANES 2001-2004.BMC immunology · 2024Article
- Serum fatty acid profiles in systemic lupus erythematosus and patient reported outcomes: The Michigan Lupus Epidemiology & Surveillance (MILES) Program.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Longitudinal antinuclear antibody titers in systemic lupus erythematosus and other rheumatic diseases.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Maternal seafood intake, dietary contaminant exposure, and risk of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: exploring gene-environment interactions.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Mercury intoxication disrupts tonic signaling in B cells, and may promote autoimmunity due to abnormal phosphorylation of STIM-1 and other autoimmunity risk associated phosphoproteins involved in BCR signaling.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2023Article
- The Role of Exposomes in the Pathophysiology of Autoimmune Diseases I: Toxic Chemicals and Food.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2021Review
- Maternal gestational mercury exposure in relation to cord blood T cell alterations and placental gene expression signatures.Environmental research · 2021Article
- Embracing cancer immunotherapy with vital micronutrients.World journal of clinical oncology · 2021Review
- Dietary Omega Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake and Patient-Reported Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: The Michigan Lupus Epidemiology and Surveillance Program.Arthritis care & research · 2020Article
- Methylmercury and long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are associated with immune dysregulation in young adults from the Seychelles child development study.Environmental research · 2020Article
- Mercury-induced inflammation and autoimmunity.Biochimica et biophysica acta. General subjects · 2019Review
- Heavy metals in fish and its association with autoimmunity in the development of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a prospective birth cohort study.Pediatric rheumatology online journal · 2019Article
- The Long-Term Algae Extract (Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Prenatal exposure to mercury in relation to infant infections and respiratory symptoms in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.Environmental research · 2019Article
- Increased Systemic Malondialdehyde Levels and Decreased Mo/Co, Co/FeJournal of clinical medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundImmune dysregulation associated with mercury has been suggested, although data in the general population are lacking. Chronic exposure to low levels of methylmercury (organic) and inorganic mercury is common, such as through fish consumption and dental amalgams.
objectiveWe examined associations between mercury biomarkers and antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity and titer strength.
methodsAmong females 16-49 years of age (n = 1,352) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004, we examined cross-sectional associations between mercury and ANAs (indirect immunofluorescence; cutoff ≥ 1:80). Three biomarkers of mercury exposure were used: hair (available 1999-2000) and total blood (1999-2004) predominantly represented methylmercury, and urine (1999-2002) represented inorganic mercury. Survey statistics were used. Multivariable modeling adjusted for several covariates, including age and omega-3 fatty acids.
resultsSixteen percent of females were ANA positive; 96% of ANA positives had a nuclear speckled staining pattern. Geometric mean (geometric SD) mercury concentrations were 0.22 (0.03) ppm in hair, 0.92 (0.05) μg/L blood, and 0.62 (0.04) μg/L urine. Hair and blood, but not urinary, mercury were associated with ANA positivity (sample sizes 452, 1,352, and 804, respectively), after adjusting for confounders: for hair, odds ratio (OR) = 4.10 (95% CI: 1.66, 10.13); for blood, OR = 2.32 (95% CI: 1.07, 5.03) comparing highest versus lowest quantiles. Magnitudes of association were strongest for high-titer (≥ 1:1,280) ANA: hair, OR = 11.41 (95% CI: 1.60, 81.23); blood, OR = 5.93 (95% CI: 1.57, 22.47).
conclusionsMethylmercury, at low levels generally considered safe, was associated with subclinical autoimmunity among reproductive-age females. Autoantibodies may predate clinical disease by years; thus, methylmercury exposure may be relevant to future autoimmune disease risk.
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