HUMAN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES AS A CELL MODEL TO EVALUATE THE GENOTOXIC EFFECT OF COAL TAR-TREATMENT

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from psoriatic patients therapeutic ally exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during coal tar (CT) treatment were used to evaluate the in vivo formation of benzo[a ]pyrene diol epoxide(BaPDE)-DNA adducts by an ELISA technique and by t he P-32-postlabeling method. Moreover, we controlled if the pretreatme nt with CT influences the formation of BaP-DNA adducts and the BaP met abolism in the PBL obtained from psoriatic patients, treated in vitro with BaP. Our data did not show any significant influence of the CT tr eatment on the levels of PAH-DNA adducts. Moreover, the use of PBL fro m psoriatic patients, treated in vitro with BaP, did not allow to dete ct significant modifications of the metabolic activation of BaP and of the ability of its metabolites to bind to DNA, before and after CT tr eatment. Thus, PBL do not seem to represent an useful cell model to ev aluate the possible genotoxic effect of the exposure through the skin of psoriatic patients to the PAH contained in CT.