A new tentative approach for a possible correlation between Cultural Heritage, Pollution and Neuroendocrine Tumours

The result of interaction between atmospheric pollution and carbonate stone materials are the formation of black crust, a superficial layer that assumes a grey to black color. An innovative application of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) as a methodological approach for the chemical characterization of black crust on stone monuments was proposed. This approach is extremely advantageous in geochemical characterization, both to determine a great number of trace elements and to carry out precise and sensitive analyses in a relatively short time. It also provides information about the extent of pollution in environments where black crusts were formed, and specifically, reveals the presence of different heavy metals. Recently some papers reported a possible relation between Cadmium and Arsenic (two heavy metals) in induce a neuroendocrine differentiation and proliferation of breast and urothelial normal cells. A site-by-site analysis is revealed that, for some neuroendocrine tumours, the incidence rate increased more than others. This last aspect probably could be related also to different pollution condition how it was reported for others not-neuroendocrine tumours. Different chemicals agents are characterized by endocrine-disrupting properties; even some metals were shown to have endocrine-disrupting characteristics. The idea is to quantify the heavy metals present in black crusts developing on building stones of several polluted urban area and to define the amount of the same metals in histological tissues of patients affected by neuroendocrine tumours. The aim is to highlight a correlation between contamination of heavy metals in stones materials and human health, in particular regarding neuroendocrine tumors, understanding the role played by each sources of pollution, both natural and anthropogenic in the carcinogenesis of these tumors.