Researchers Urge Canadians to Donate Toenails, for Science

A new study that is being planned by scientists at the University of Calgary, Canada, is looking to receive up to 10,000 toenail samples from volunteers around the country. The reason for this seemingly odd request is to study how to accurately measure how much radon someone has been exposed to and link this exposure to their risk of developing lung cancer. 

The drivers of the development of lung cancer have been quite an enigma to the scientific community. While smoking has been identified to be a leading cause of the disease, a notable fraction of lung cancer patients don’t have a history of smoking. Fingers have been pointed to a number of environmental factors as contributing to lung cancer risk, and the University of Calgary team wants to investigate one such risk factor, radon exposure. 

Radon exposure has been identified as the number two cause of lung cancer, coming close behind smoking. However, it has been challenging to include radon exposure while assessing risk factors for lung cancer. This is because it is currently hard for an individual to give an accurate account of how much radon they have been exposed to for long periods, such as previous decades. In contrast, someone can provide an accurate account of their tobacco smoking history. 

Doctor Aaron Goodarzi and his team have come up with a solution that could work in obtaining a person’s history of radon exposure; toenails. He explains that they have learned that toenails can store information for a long time regarding someone’s exposure to radon and other radioactive toxins within the environment. 

Goodarzi says once an individual inhales radon, the gas quickly changes into a certain type of radioactive lead. As is typical for the body, this and other forms of lead are stored in body tissues that are shed slowly, including the hair, nails and skin. 

In their recently published pilot study geared at proving the concept of using toenails to quantify historical exposure of individuals to radon, Goodarzi and his team demonstrated the utility of this approach. 

The researchers are now seeking 10,000 toenail samples from Canadians in order to conduct a larger study as a follow-up to the proof-of-concept research they successfully undertook. The selected participants will be required to conduct radon tests within their homes and provide those results together with toenail samples. 

The findings of this larger study could be transformational as a way would be found to tweak the current lung cancer prevention efforts. At-risk patients could also start being included in early screening programs that could catch the disease early. Additionally, the findings could provide a much needed explanation to individuals who find themselves receiving a lung cancer diagnosis despite having never smoked, were careful regarding what they ate, and exercised routinely. 

Early diagnosis of lung cancer arising from factors like radon exposure would also give patients a fighting chance to beat the disease if they start treatment early. Given the strides that firms like Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE American: CLDI) are taking in their bid to develop therapeutics with higher efficacy against lung cancer, early diagnosis would give patients their best shot at getting the needed clinical outcomes. 

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