The Impact of Genetic Polymorphisms for Detecting Genotoxicity in Workers Occupationally Exposed to Metals: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT The present study aims to provide a systematic review of studies on the essential and nonessential metal exposure at occupational level, genotoxicity, and polymorphisms and to answer the following questions: Are genetic polymorphisms involved in metal‐induced genotoxicity? In this study, 14 publications were carefully analyzed in this setting. Our results pointed out an association between polymorphism and genotoxicity in individuals exposed to metals, because 13 studies (out of 14) revealed positive relations between genotoxicity and polymorphisms in xenobiotics metabolizing and DNA repair genes. Regarding the quality of these findings, they can be considered reliable, as the vast majority of the studies (12 out of 14) were categorized as strong or moderate in the quality assessment. Taken as a whole, occupational exposure to metals (essentials or not) induces genotoxicity in peripheral blood or oral mucosa cells. Additionally, professional individuals with certain genotypes may present higher or lower DNA damage as well as DNA repair potential, which will certainly impact the level of DNA damage in the occupational environment.