{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T01:12:26Z","timestamp":1792026746252,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":146,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,7]],"date-time":"2021-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1633564800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Heavy metals enter the human body through the gastrointestinal tract, skin, or via inhalation. Toxic metals have proven to be a major threat to human health, mostly because of their ability to cause membrane and DNA damage, and to perturb protein function and enzyme activity. These metals disturb native proteins\u2019 functions by binding to free thiols or other functional groups, catalyzing the oxidation of amino acid side chains, perturbing protein folding, and\/or displacing essential metal ions in enzymes. The review shows the physiological and biochemical effects of selected toxic metals interactions with proteins and enzymes. As environmental contamination by heavy metals is one of the most significant global problems, some detoxification strategies are also mentioned.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules26196060","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]],"date-time":"2021-10-08T21:23:55Z","timestamp":1633728235000},"page":"6060","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":573,"title":["Heavy Metals and Human Health: Possible Exposure Pathways and the Competition for Protein Binding Sites"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6346-7543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Danuta","family":"Witkowska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, University of Opole, 68 Katowicka St., 45-060 Opole, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joanna","family":"S\u0142owik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, University of Opole, 68 Katowicka St., 45-060 Opole, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6435-0179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karolina","family":"Chilicka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Sciences, University of Opole, 68 Katowicka St., 45-060 Opole, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"184360","DOI":"10.1155\/2013\/184360","article-title":"Role of calcium channels in heavy metal toxicity","volume":"2013","author":"Marchetti","year":"2013","journal-title":"ISRN Toxicol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2738","DOI":"10.2174\/092986712800609698","article-title":"Metal transport and homeostasis within the human body: Toxicity associated with transport abnormalities","volume":"19","author":"Potocki","year":"2012","journal-title":"Curr. 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