Biomonitoring of complex occupational exposures to carcinogens: the case of sewage workers in Paris
Sewage workers provide an essential service in the protection of public and environmental health. However, they are exposed to varied mixtures of chemicals; some are known or suspected to be genotoxics or carcinogens.
Thus, trying to relate adverse outcomes to single toxicant is inappropriate. We aim to investigate if sewage workers are at increased carcinogenic risk as evaluated by biomarkers of exposure and early biological effects.Methods/design: This cross sectional study will compare exposed sewage workers to non-exposed office workers.
Both are voluntaries from Paris municipality, males, aged (20-60) years, non-smokers since at least six months, with no history of chronic or recent illness, and have similar socioeconomic status. After at least 3 days of consecutive work, blood sample and a 24-hour urine will be collected.
A caffeine test will be performed, by administering coffee and collecting urines three hours after. Subjects will fill in self-administered questionnaires; one covering the professional and lifestyle habits while the a second one is alimentary.
The blood sample will be used to assess DNA adducts in peripheral lymphocytes. The 24-hour urine to assess urinary 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2'-deoxy-Guanosine (8-oxo-dG), and the in vitro genotoxicity tests (comet and micronucleus) using HeLa S3 or HepG2 cells.
In parallel, occupational air sampling will be conducted for some Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Volatile Organic Compounds. A weekly sampling chronology at the offices of occupational medicine in Paris city during the regular medical visits will be followed.
This protocol has been accepted by the French Est III Ethical Comitee with the number 2007-A00685-48. DiscussionIn using biomarkers of exposure and early biological effects with air sampling of the workplace environment, this study would improve the biological characterization and develop suitable tools to define the degree of exposure in a population whose exposure is not defined in a precise and specific way.
Author: Hamzeh Al Zabadi, Luc Ferrari, Anne-Marie Laurent, Aziz Tiberguent, Christophe Paris and Denis Zmirou-Navier
Credits/Source: BMC Cancer 2008, 8:67
Published on: 2008-03-06
Copyright by the authors listed above - made available via BioMedCentral (Open Access). Please
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