2Programa de Salud Familiar Comunitaria e Intercultural, Ministerio de Salud Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia
3Hydrosciences Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Montpellier, France
4Genetics Institute, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
Indigenous people living in the Bolivian Andes are exposed through their drinking water to inorganic arsenic, a potent carcinogen. However, the health consequences of arsenic exposure in this region are unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate associations between arsenic exposure and changes in cancer-related proteins in indigenous women (
n = 176) from communities around the Andean Lake Poopó, Bolivia. Arsenic exposure was assessed in whole blood (B-As) and urine (as the sum of arsenic metabolites, U-As) by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Cancer-related proteins (