Abstract 829: Circulating immune/inflammation markers in Chinese workers occupationally exposed to formaldehyde

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA Background: Formaldehyde has been proposed to be a human myeloid leukemogen. However, the exact mechanism for the basis for this link is still debated. We aimed to evaluate whether circulating immune/inflammation markers were different in workers occupationally exposed to formaldehyde. Methods: Using a multiplexed bead-based assay, we measured serum levels of 38 immune/inflammation markers in a cross-sectional study of 43 formaldehyde-exposed and 51 unexposed factory workers in Guangdong, China. Linear regression models adjusting for potential confounders were used to compare marker levels in exposed and unexposed workers. Results: We found significantly lower circulating levels of four markers among exposed factory workers compared to unexposed controls that remained significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons, including thymus and activation regulated chemokine (TARC;52pg/ml in exposed versus 75pg/ml in controls,P = 0.0015), TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL;11.7pg/ml in exposed versus 22.1pg/ml in controls,P = 0.011), C-reactive protein (CRP;797.3ng/ml in exposed versus 3269.1ng/ml in controls,P = 0.013) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 11 (CXCL11;36.2pg/ml in exposed versus 48.4pg/ml in controls,P = 0.017), suggesting immunosuppression among formaldehyde-exposed workers. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with recently emerging understanding that immunosuppression might be associated with myeloid diseases. These findings, if replicated in a larger study, may provide insights into the mechanism by which formaldehyde promotes leukemogenesis. Citation Format: Qing Lan, Wei Jie Seow, Luoping Zhang, Roel Vermeulen, Xiaojiang Tang, Wei Hu, Bryan A. Bassig, Zhiying Ji, Meredith S. Shiels, Troy J. Kemp, Min Shen, Chuangyi Qiu, Boris Reiss, Laura Beane Freeman, Aaron Blair, Christopher Kim, Weihong Guo, Cuiju Wen, Laiyu Li, Ligia A. Pinto, Hanlin Huang, Martyn T. Smith, Allan Hildesheim, Nathaniel Rothman. Circulating immune/inflammation markers in Chinese workers occupationally exposed to formaldehyde. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 829. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-829