Hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of human exposure to selected xenobiotics

In the living and working environments more and more new substances of anthropogenic origin exerting toxic properties appear. Simultaneously, the evaluation of human exposure is assessed. For many years adducts of hemoglobin (Hb) have been useful markers of the exposure of humans to various xenobiotics. These adducts are also termed biologically effective dose biomarkers. This paper focuses on a review of literature, mainly from the years 2010-2014, which refers to the hemoglobin adducts of toxic compounds with electrophilic properties. In the interactions of xenobiotics with hemoglobin, groups such as thiol, amino, carboxyl and hydroxyl of this hemoprotein are involved. These combinations occur most often in the reaction of xenobiotics with an N-terminal amino group of valine in Hb, imidazole nitrogen of histidine and cysteine sulfhydryl β93. Hb adducts are characterized by high availability, a long period of occurrence (up to 120 days) in the circulatory system, and high durability, and they have contact with all cells of the body. The measurement of hemoglobin adducts can be potentially used in the assessment of exposure to many xenobiotics such as acrylamide; substances present in tobacco smoke, e.g. benzo(α)pyrene and benzanthracene, ethylene oxide, aryl amines; and substances used on a large scale in industry such as glycidol and naphthalene and its derivatives. Recently the possibility of determination of hemoglobin adducts with estrogen metabolites has been postulated as indicators informing about heightened risk of breast cancer. Protein adducts are used as an alternative to DNA adducts for different classes of electrophilic substances.