Samantha Sartori

Thirty years of medical surveillance in perfluooctanoic acid production workers.

Objective: To report health outcomes of 30 years (1978–2007) of medical surveillance of workers engaged in a perfluooctanoic acid (PFOA) production plant. Methods: Fifty-three males workers (20 to 63 years) were submitted every year to medical examination and blood chemical chemistry tests, and serum PFOA dosage. Results: In the latest survey PFOA serum levels ranged from 0.20 to 47.04 μg/mL in currently exposed workers, and from 0.53 to 18.66 μg/mL in those formerly exposed. No clinical evidence of any specific trouble or disease has been recorded over the 30 years, and all the biochemical parameters, including liver, kidney and hormonal functions, turned out to be within the reference ranges, but a significant association of total cholesterol and uric acid with and PFOA serum level was evidenced. Conclusions: A probable interference of PFOA on intermediate metabolism deserves further investigations.

Blood leukocyte DNA hypomethylation and gastric cancer risk in a high‐risk Polish population

Global hypomethylation has been shown to increase genome instability potentially leading to increased cancer risk. We determined whether global methylation in blood leukocyte DNA was associated with gastric cancer in a population‐based study on 302 gastric cancer cases and 421 age‐ and sex‐matched controls in Warsaw, Poland, between 1994 and 1996. Using PCR‐pyrosequencing, we analyzed methylation levels of Alu and LINE‐1, 2 CG‐rich repetitive elements, to measure global methylation levels. Gastric cancer risk was highest among those with lowest level of methylation in either Alu (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 0.9–1.9) or LINE‐1 (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 0.9–2.0) relative to those with the highest levels, although the trends were not statistically significant. For Alu, the association was stronger among those aged 70 or older (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.3–5.5, p for interaction = 0.02). We did not observe meaningful differences in the associations by other risk factors and polymorphisms examined. For LINE‐1, the association tended to be stronger among individuals with a family history of cancer (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.4–7.0, p for interaction = 0.01), current alcohol drinkers (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.0–3.6, p for interaction = 0.05), current smokers (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.1–4.6, p for interaction = 0.02), those who rarely or never consumed fruit (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.2–8.1, p for interaction = 0.03), CC carriers for the MTRR Ex5+123C>T polymorphism (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.2–4.4, p for interaction = 0.01) and TT carriers for the MTRR Ex15+572T>C polymorphism (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.0–2.8, p for interaction = 0.06). The association was not different by sex, Helicobacter pylori infection, intake of folate, vitamin B6 and total protein and the remaining polymorphisms examined. Our results indicate that interactions between blood leukocyte DNA hypomethylation and host characteristics may determine gastric cancer risk.

EPIGENETIC EFFECTS OF SHIFTWORK ON BLOOD DNA METHYLATION

In the present study, the authors investigated the effects of shiftwork exposure on DNA methylation using peripheral blood DNA from subjects working in two chemical plants in Northern Italy. The investigation was designed to evaluate (a) DNA methylation changes in Alu and long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) repetitive elements as a surrogate of global methylation and (b) promoter methylation of glucocorticoid receptor (GCR), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). One hundred and fifty white male workers (mean ± SD: 41.0 ± 9 yrs of age) were examined: 100 3 × 8 rotating shiftworkers (40.4 ± 8.7 yrs of age) and 50 day workers (42.2 ± 9.4 yrs of age). The authors used bisulfite-pyrosequencing to estimate repetitive elements and gene-specific methylation. Multiple regression analysis, adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), and job seniority, did not show any significant association between the five DNA methylation markers and shiftwork. However, job seniority, in all subjects, was significantly associated with Alu (β = −0.019, p = .033) and IFN-γ (β = −0.224, p < .001) methylation, whereas TNF-α methylation was inversely correlated with age (β = −0.093, p < .001). Considering only shiftworkers, multiple regression analysis, adjusted for age, BMI, and job seniority, showed a significant difference between morning and evening types in TNF-α methylation (mean morning type [MT] 11.425 %5mC versus evening type [ET] 12.975 %5mC; β = 1.33, p = .022). No difference was observed between good and poor tolerance to shiftwork. Increasing job seniority (<5, 5–15, >15 yrs) was associated with significantly lower Alu (β = −0.86, p = .006) and IFN-γ methylation (β = −6.50, p = .007) after adjustment for age, BMI, and morningness/eveningness. In addition, GCR significantly increased with length of shiftwork (β = 3.33, p = .05). The data showed alterations in blood DNA methylation in a group of shiftworkers, including changes in Alu repetitive elements methylation and gene-specific methylation of IFN-γ and TNF-α promoters. Further studies are required to determine the role of such alterations in mediating the effects of shiftwork on human health. (Author correspondence: giovanni.costa@unimi.it)