STUDIES OF BIOMARKERS IN ALUMINUM WORKERS OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED TO POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS

Evaluation of biomarkers for genotoxic exposure are important for futu re use of such biomarkers in cancer prevention, We have studied a grou p of aluminum plant workers for a period of 2.5 years. The level of po lycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been monitored at the work p lace (cathode relining). During the study period, urine and blood were sampled up to seven times from the same workers. Mean level of urinar y 1-hydroxypyrene varied from 1.08 to 2.44 mu mol/mol creatinine in th e exposed groups compared with 0.36 and 0.20 mu mol/mol creatinine in the two reference groups, For a group of 14 workers the intraindividua l variation of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene was analyzed. The relative stan dard deviation of the values was less than or equal to 0.50 for half o f the workers; the relative standard deviation was calculated for indi vidual values divided by mean of each time point. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts in white blood cells from exposed and nonexpos ed workers were measured by both immunoassay and P-32-postlabeling. By P-32-postlabeling mean values of 12.0 adducts/10(8) and 10.8 adducts/ 10(8) nucleotides were found in a PAH-exposed group and a reference gr oup, respectively. Intraindividual variation of PAH-DNA adducts was al so analyzed.