Heavy Metal Burden in Prostate Cancer Patients: A Comparative Analysis of Selenium, Cadmium, Aluminum, Lead, Iron, and Mercury Across Treatment Stages Using ICP Technique

Muthanna M. AWAD *

Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kirkuk, Kirkuk, Iraq.
* Corresponding Author
ORCID Details
Research Article
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Updates, 2026, 12(01), 009–019.
 
Article DOI: 10.53430/ijmru.2026.12.1.0016
Publication history: 
Received on 10 September 2026; revised on 17 October 2026; accepted on 19 October 2026
 
Abstract: 
Background: We examined the levels of essential elements and other toxic elements in the blood of patients with prostate cancer (PCa), and found differences between the treatment group and the clinical group, with samples taken from each group separately; however, these differences are not clear.
Objective: To compare serum Se, Cd, Al, Pb, Fe, and Hg concentrations in healthy controls, untreated PCa, chemotherapy-treated PCa, and hormone-treated PCa.
Methods: The study included 120 men distributed equally across four independent clinical groups (n = 30 per group) in a cross-sectional design. The described serum digestion used 2.5 mL of sample and a 12.5-mL final volume (dilution factor 5), followed by ICP-OES. Statistical analyses included one-way ANOVA, Welch ANOVA, pairwise Welch comparisons, Holm adjustment, exploratory Pearson correlation analyses, and Fisher's z tests for comparing correlation coefficients.
Results: Mean Se was 99.88 ± 14.62, 82.00 ± 15.36, 86.08 ± 14.85, and 92.81 ± 14.61 µg/L across control, untreated, chemotherapy, and hormone-therapy groups, respectively. All six elements differed overall among groups (all classical ANOVA P < 0.0001; Welch sensitivity tests P < 0.001). After Holm adjustment of 18 control contrasts, the hormone-therapy Al and Hg differences did not remain significant. In untreated PCa, Cd–Al and Al–Pb correlations passed within-group FDR adjustment; eight of 45 between-category correlation comparisons passed FDR correction using Fisher’s z.
Conclusions: Serum element summaries varied across clinical categories, although the cross-sectional design precludes causal and treatment-effect inferences, Based on quantitative analyses of toxic metals at low concentrations, the validity of the method has been verified and the data are currently being analysed from the original records using the instruments.
 
Keywords: 
False discovery rate, Selenium, Cadmium, Prostate cancer, Serum trace elements, Emission spectrometry, Cross-sectional, Plasmon optical
 
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