Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, Food Safety and Health Research Center, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; Department of Toxicology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou 510300, China.
Department of Toxicology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou 510300, China.
Toxicology. 2018 Dec 1;410:59-64. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2018.09.004. Epub 2018 Sep 10.
Exposure to low-dose benzene may lead to hematotoxicity and cause health problems. Though peripheral blood cell count is widely used in benzene exposure assessment and health risk assessment, the reports regarding the effects of low-dose benzene exposure on blood cell count remain inconsistent. To uncover more sensitive biomarkers for low-dose benzene exposure, our previous study screened out three potential serum proteins-plasminogen (PLG), platelet basic protein (PBP) and apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100)-as biomarkers from chronic benzene poisoning patients by using proteomic analysis. In the present study, we verify the three serum proteins as biomarkers for the effects of low-dose benzene exposure in a large low-dose benzene exposure population. The study showed that serum PLG increased in benzene exposed workers and was positively correlated with benzene exposure levels. However, no significant changes in serum PBP or ApoB100 were found in the benzene exposed workers. To explore whether the candidate serum proteins are associated with hematotoxicity, the study population was regrouped into two groups, based on their WBC counts. Our results showed that the workers with high serum PLG levels suffered higher risk of WBC abnormalities than did workers with low serum PLG levels. Taken together, these findings indicate that the increase in serum PLG might be associated with low-dose benzene exposure and benzene-induced hematotoxicity. Thus, we suggest serum PLG could be used as a potential biomarker for the effects of low-dose benzene exposure.
接触低剂量苯可能导致血液毒性，并引发健康问题。尽管外周血细胞计数广泛用于苯暴露评估和健康风险评估，但关于低剂量苯暴露对血细胞计数影响的报告仍然不一致。为了发现更敏感的低剂量苯暴露生物标志物，我们之前的研究通过蛋白质组学分析从慢性苯中毒患者中筛选出三种潜在的血清蛋白 - 纤溶酶原（PLG）、血小板碱性蛋白（PBP）和载脂蛋白 B100（ApoB100） - 作为生物标志物。在本研究中，我们在大量低剂量苯暴露人群中验证了这三种血清蛋白作为低剂量苯暴露影响的生物标志物。研究表明，暴露于苯的工人血清 PLG 增加，且与苯暴露水平呈正相关。然而，暴露于苯的工人血清 PBP 或 ApoB100 没有明显变化。为了探索候选血清蛋白是否与血液毒性有关，根据白细胞计数将研究人群重新分为两组。我们的结果表明，血清 PLG 水平较高的工人白细胞异常的风险高于血清 PLG 水平较低的工人。总之，这些发现表明血清 PLG 的增加可能与低剂量苯暴露和苯引起的血液毒性有关。因此，我们建议血清 PLG 可作为低剂量苯暴露影响的潜在生物标志物。
