Environmental Pollutants and Neurological Disorders

NCT ID: NCT07140601

Last Updated: 2025-08-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Total Enrollment: 500 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-08-01
• Study Completion Date: 2027-08-01

Brief Summary

Environmental pollutants have emerged as a major global health concern, with growing evidence linking exposure to both traditional contaminants such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic) and novel pollutants-including micro- and nanoplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), antibiotics, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals-to adverse neurological outcomes. These pollutants can cross or disrupt the blood-brain barrier, accumulate in neural tissue, and trigger oxidative stress, inflammation, epigenetic modifications, and metabolic reprogramming.

Brain tumours and cerebrovascular diseases represent two major categories of neurosurgical disorders with high morbidity and mortality. However, their interaction with environmental pollutant exposure remains poorly understood. Recent studies suggest that pollutant-induced molecular alterations, such as aberrant DNA methylation, lipid metabolism disruption, and neurovascular endothelial dysfunction, may contribute to tumour initiation, malignant progression, aneurysm formation, and stroke occurrence.

Given the increasing human exposure to these pollutants and the lack of large-scale clinical data, it is urgent to establish a systematic investigation in neurosurgical patients. This study aims to profile pollutant exposure (heavy metals, PFAS, microplastics, and other novel contaminants) using multi-biospecimen analysis (blood, urine, hair, tumour and peri-tumour tissues), and to explore their mechanistic links to the pathogenesis of brain tumours and cerebrovascular diseases. The findings are expected to provide new evidence for understanding environment-brain interactions and to identify potential biomarkers for disease risk stratification and prevention.

Conditions

Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Tumours; Alzheimer Dementia

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 18 years of age or older;
• Able to give informed consent to participate in the research.

Exclusion Criteria

• Refusal to participate.
• Pregnant or breastfeeding woman.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Nanjing University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Peking Union Medical College

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Human Brain Bank for Development and Function

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Beijing Tiantan Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Xiaolin Chen, MD

Prof.

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

China

Central Contacts

Runting Li, MD

Role: CONTACT

tt18080lrt@163.com

+86 15753166690

Facility Contacts

Runting Li, MD

Role: primary

tt18080lrt@163.com

+86 15753166690

Other Identifiers

2024ZD0539700

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

KY2024-252-02

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id