Lead and cadmium induced cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on HL-60 and Jurkat cell lines

Humans are exposed to a mixture of toxic heavy metals in the environment. Because of the lack of information on the toxicity of their mixtures, in this study, two common heavy metals, lead and cadmium, were introduced individually and as mixtures in HL-60 and JURKAT cell lines for 24 hours. Our experimental results have shown that these two heavy metals induced cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in both cell lines. Also, cadmium exhibited a higher cytotoxic and genotoxic potential than lead. The cytotoxicity data of single metals were used to determine the mixtures interaction profile by using the effect additivity method. Metal mixtures showed synergistic effect in HL-60 cells and antagonistic effect in JURKAT cells, compared to individual metals. The combined effects should be considered in the risk assessment of heavy metal co-exposure and potency.