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Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene as a comprehensive carcinogenic biomarker of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a cross-sectional study of coke oven workers in China

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Abstract

Purpose

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are multiple compounds that include many carcinogens. We conducted a cross-sectional study in steel plant workers in Anshan, China, to identify biomarkers that reflect the carcinogenicity of PAHs.

Methods

Subjects were 57 workers and 20 controls. Level of personal exposure to PAHs was measured using GC–MS. In accordance with the assessment methods defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), 15 PAHs were selected for the analysis. For the measurement of urinary metabolites, urine samples were treated with β-glucuronidase and analyzed using HPLC with a fluorescence detector.

Results

The mean range of personal exposure to 15 PAHs (total PAHs) was 178.85, 47.08–1,329.45 (geometric mean, 5th and 95th percentile) μg/m3. Ten known urinary metabolites (1-hydroxynaphthalene, 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 2-hydroxyfluorene, 1-hydroxyphenanthrene, 3-hydroxyphenanthrene, 9-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydroxypyrene, 3-hydroxybenz[a]anthracene, 6-hydroxychrysene, and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene) and four unknown peaks were detected. The highest correlation was between total PAHs and urinary 2-hydroxynaphthalene (Spearman r = 0.716, P < 0.01). Among the detected urinary metabolites, 2-hydroxyfluorene, 1-hydroxyphenanthrene, 3-hydroxyphenanthrene, and 1-hydroxypyrene were found to correlate significantly with the “Σ carcinogenic potency of PAHs” (sum of seven carcinogenic PAHs calculated from the levels of personal PAHs and relative potency factors), and with the greatest correlation found for 1-hydroxypyrene (Spearman r = 0.630, P < 0.01).

Conclusions

The analysis of personal exposure to 15 PAHs and 10 urinary metabolites, and calculation of Σ carcinogenic potency, indicated that urinary 1-hydroxypyrene was the most comprehensive carcinogenic biomarker of exposure to PAHs.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Mika Takahashi for technical assistance. This work was supported in part by the MEXT/JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 23590754.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Showa University, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan

    Yuko Yamano, Tomoyuki Hanaoka & Toshio Nakadate

  2. Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuko Yamano

  3. Faculty of Regional Health Therapy, Teikyo Heisei University, Chiba, Japan

    Kunio Hara

  4. Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan

    Masayoshi Ichiba

  5. Bihoro Ryoiku Hospital, Hokkaido, Japan

    Tomoyuki Hanaoka

  6. Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Liaoning Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenyang, China

    Guowei Pan

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  1. Yuko Yamano
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  2. Kunio Hara
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  3. Masayoshi Ichiba
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  4. Tomoyuki Hanaoka
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Correspondence to Yuko Yamano.

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Yamano, Y., Hara, K., Ichiba, M. et al. Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene as a comprehensive carcinogenic biomarker of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a cross-sectional study of coke oven workers in China. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 87, 705–713 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-013-0913-6

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