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Toxicant & Disease Database

Toxicant and Disease Database

The CHE Toxicant and Disease Database is a searchable database that summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions. Diseases and or toxicants can be viewed by utilizing the search options below. In 2025, we have also added links to information available in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). See a full description of the database and our methodology.

See also our compilation of other Databases and Resources.

For questions or comments about the database, please contact us through our Contact form.

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Acute tubular necrosis

Causes Grouped by strength of evidence

Strong Evidence 1,1-dichloroethane arsine cadmium carbon tetrachloride chloroform chromium lead mercury metals methanol pentachlorophenol (PCP) phosphorus solvents stibene (antimony) vanadium	Good Evidence dioxane diquat ethylene chlorohydrin ethylene glycol ethers ethylene glycols ionizing radiation paraquat petrochemicals solvents tetrachloroethane toluene trichloroethylene (TCE) uranium vinylidene chloride	Limited Evidence 1,2-dichloroethane arsenic bromobenzene carbolic acid copper dinitro-o-cresols dinitrophenols glycerol manganese carbonyls organophosphates potassium bromate solvents sulfuryl fluoride tetrachloroethylene (PCE) tetrafluoroethylene

Notes

Cigarette smokers have double the cadmium exposure of non-smokers resulting in 4-5 times higher blood cadmium levels and 2-3 times higher kidney cadmium levels. In nonsmokers, the main route of exposure to cadmium is through the diet. Inorganic mercury salts are most nephrotoxic. Methanol toxicity is due to the formation of formaldehyde and formate metabolic products. Pentachlorophenol (PCP) causes reversible decreased renal function at subtoxic doses. Arsine causes hemolysis and ATN secondary to hemoglobinuria. Toluene has been implicated as a nephrotoxin in inhalation abuse of solvents and glue.

ADDITIONAL DATA: The toxicant–disease relationships shown above were last updated in 2011. The relationships shown here are still valid, but additional research has been conducted since that time. Additional research on this disease can be found at this link:

COMPARATIVE TOXICOGENOMICS DATABASE: CURATED RESULTS
Kidney Tubular Necrosis, Acute

This link will direct your search to an external database, the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). This database is different from, and complementary to, our database.

More information about sources and methods

CHE’s Toxicant and Disease Database evaluates existing evidence and categorizes that evidence based on its strength. It is constructed using expert judgment and epidemiological causal inference.
The CTD, in contrast, is a continually updated resource that presents information on a broad range of literature on chemical-disease relationships. It also provides data on genes, biological processes, and phenotypes related to chemicals and diseases. It does not categorize information based on strength of evidence, include an expert judgment process, or draw causal conclusions about toxicant-disease relationships.
The link we have provided on this page goes directly to CTD's curated results, which are a subset of the information available through CTD. Curated results in CTD are those for which studies are available on the toxicant-disease relationship.