SHORT REPORT

Gender dependent accumulation of dioxins in smokers

S Fierens¹, G Eppe², E De Pauw², A Bernard¹

¹ Unit of Toxicology and Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Université catholique de Louvain, 30.54 Clos-Chapelle-aux-Champs, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
² Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, University of Liège, Allée de la Chimie 3–B6c, Sart-Tilman B-4000 Liège, Belgium

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor A Bernard
Unit of Toxicology and Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Université catholique de Louvain, 30.54 Clos-Chapelle-aux-Champs, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium; Bernard{at}toxi.ucl.ac.be

Aims: To evaluate the contribution of tobacco smoking to dioxin accumulation.

Methods: Dioxin (17 PCDD/F) concentrations in fasting blood from 251 subjects (161 never smokers, 54 past smokers, and 36 current smokers) were quantified.

Results: Whereas serum dioxin concentrations of male smokers were on average 40% higher than those of non-smokers, in women, smoking was associated with significantly lower serum dioxin levels. A synergistic potentiation of dioxin metabolism by tobacco smoke in women is postulated to explain these paradoxical findings.

Conclusions: Current smoking is associated with gender dependent effects on dioxin body burden and is a potential source of confounding in human studies using blood dioxins as indicators of exposure.

Abbreviations: PCDD, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins; PCDF, polychlorinated dibenzofurans; cPCB, coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls; TEQ, toxic equivalent; BMI, body mass index; AhR, aryl hydrocarbon receptor

Keywords: biomarkers; dioxins; tobacco smoke

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