Speciation and carcinogenic classification—some limits of assessment and prevention procedures—the case of “nickel”

The speciation of nickel is of the highest importance for the definition of lists of substances for regulatory activity in terms of prevention, regarding possible cancer risk. A review is made of the different attitudes of outstanding administrations in front of nickel speciation. Some of them show a maximum of care in chemical definition, others reflect a lack of scientific rigor leading to generic classifications, more or less abusive. The great complexity of the chemistry and physicochemistry of nickel imposes the “two‐level speciation concept” (chemical and physicochemical), at least for compliance with the “Good Laboratory Practice” as far as experimental toxicology is concerned. Recommendations are exposed for the attention of toxicologists and regulators who have been for some years now extremely solicited for prevention aims.     

云南宣威地区燃煤排放颗粒物中石英矿物的特征

云南宣威地区是我国人群肺癌死亡率最高的地区之一,过往研究表明,该区的高肺癌死亡率可能与居民室内燃煤排放颗粒物中的多环芳烃(PAHs)有关,而最近研究发现,其中的nm级石英可能是导致肺癌发生的原因, 但鲜见该区燃煤排放颗粒物中细粒石英矿物的研究. 为探究燃煤排放细粒矿物的分布特征,采集了肺癌高发区宣威市来宾镇及周边5个乡镇煤矿中的15个煤样,使用光学显微镜、X射线衍射仪(XRD)、带能谱的扫描电镜(SEM/EDS)分析了煤样的煤岩组分及矿物组成. 结果表明:宣威煤以中挥发分、较高镜质组烟煤为主,煤中主要矿物为石英、鲕绿泥石、高岭石和方解石;不同煤样中,矿物质的结晶程度有所差异;单颗粒统计结果显示,在所统计的775个矿物颗粒中,石英颗粒占37.9%,并且粒径多分布在1~2μm之间; 石英矿物颗粒的形状不规则且以微粒的形式填充在煤缝隙中. 石英与鲕绿泥石共存的现象显示,宣威煤中石英来源于富含Fe和Al的硅质热液流,而非岩石碎屑沉积;此外,在肺癌高发区(来宾镇),其煤中Si+Fe质矿物颗粒含量较Si质矿物高. 今后将重点研究石英颗粒在Fe参与下的生物活性.      

云南宣威地区燃煤排放PM10的微观形貌和粒度特征

宣威地区肺癌发病率居全国首位,并且肺癌与室内燃煤关系密切. 为了解宣威地区室内燃煤排放PM₁₀的微观形貌和粒度特征,使用小流量Minivol采样器,分别于2011年1月、3月和12月对宣威地区6个代表性乡镇的18个农户及对照点——贵州六盘水幸福村2个农户室内、外的PM₁₀进行采样. 采用扫描电子显微镜分析样品的微观形貌,并对颗粒物粒度进行统计分析. 根据微观形貌特征将PM₁₀分为烟尘集合体(链状、蓬松状、密实状)、球形颗粒(燃煤飞灰和焦油球)、矿物颗粒(规则和不规则状)、生物颗粒及超细未知颗粒. 结果表明:宣威地区室内PM₁₀微观形貌差别较大;室、内外PM₁₀的粒度分布在0.1~0.4μm内的颗粒数量所占比例较大,而1μm以上颗粒体积所占比例较大;小粒径颗粒对颗粒物数量贡献较大,而少数大粒径颗粒对体积贡献较大;宣威地区和对照点室内的PM₁₀数量-粒度和体积-粒度分布相似,室外PM₁₀数量-粒度特征相似但体积-粒度分布有所差异. 宣威地区室内的烟尘集合体和球形颗粒分别占颗粒物总数的10.5%和23.6%,高于对照点 (分别为7.7%和11.3%).      

Reduced effect of Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease at the disease front

Pathogen-driven declines in animal populations are increasingly regarded as a major conservation issue. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is threatened with extinction by devil facial tumor disease, a unique transmissible cancer. The disease is transmitted through direct transfer of tumor cells, which is possible because the genetic diversity of Tasmanian devils is low, particularly in the major histocompatibility complex genes of the immune system. The far northwest of Tasmania now holds the last remaining disease-free wild devil populations. The recent discovery of unique major histocompatibility complex genotypes in the northwestern region of Tasmania has raised the possibility that some animals may be resilient to the disease. We examined the differences in the epidemiology and population effects of devil facial tumor disease at 3 well-studied affected sites in eastern Tasmania and 1 in western Tasmania (West Pencil Pine). In contrast to the 3 eastern sites, there has been no rapid increase in disease prevalence or evidence of population decline at West Pencil Pine. Moreover, this is the only onsite at which the population age structure has remained unaltered 4 years after the first detection of disease. The most plausible explanations for the substantial differences in population effects and epidemiology of the disease between eastern and western sites are geographic differences in genotypes or phenotypes of devils and functional differences between tumor strains in the 2 regions. We suggest that conservation efforts focus on identifying whether either or both these explanations are correct and then, if resistance alleles exist, to attempt to spread the resistant alleles into affected populations. Such assisted selection has rarely been attempted for the management of wildlife diseases, but it may be widely applicable.     

云南宣威燃煤室内可吸入颗粒物质量浓度变化特征

应用中流量采样器TSP-PM10-PM2.5对我国肺癌高发区宣威地区6个乡村19家农户进行采样,运用滤膜称重法来分析不同燃料类型室内及相应室外的大气颗粒物质量浓度特征.结果显示,各村庄室内、室外PM10质量浓度比值(I/O)变化范围为1.74~2.87,说明室内PM10污染主要由室内污染源引起;做饭时段室内PM10污染比其他时段严重,尽管烟囱可以将大量的污染物排出室外,但室内颗粒物的质量浓度依然较高.室内PM10质量浓度依燃料类型从高到低依次为块煤用户>型煤用户>燃柴用户>用电用户,室内PM2.5质量浓度依燃料类型从高到低表现为块煤用户>燃柴用户>用电用户;块煤、型煤用户的室内PM10的质量浓度平均值(442.49μg/m3、399.14μg/m3)超过国家室内空气质量标准日均值150μg/m3,污染严重;燃柴和用电用户室内PM10的质量浓度平均值(145.50μg/m3、119.91μg/m3)低于国家室内空气质量标准日均值150μg/m3,污染较轻.块煤用户PM2.5质量浓度日均值(132.58μg/m3)超过2012年2月29日环境保护部发布的环境空气质量标准二级标准75μg/m3,而燃柴和用电户PM2.5的质量浓度(55.24μg/m3、65.02μg/m3)均低于环境空气质量标准二级标准75μg/m3,说明块煤用户室内细颗粒污染较重,用电和燃柴用户室内细颗粒物污染相对较轻.     

Epigenetic effect of long-term bisphenol A exposure on human breast adenocarcinoma cells

In this research, epigenetic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were analyzed. Genome-wide DNA methylation and gene expression were analyzed in MCF-7 cells exposed to BPA (10^?5 and 10^?6 mol/L for 5 weeks). No significant changes in the global level of 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine and 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxycytidine were observed. DNA methylation profiling analysis indicated that BPA exposure resulted in the hypermethylation of FOXK2, LKB1, LMX1A and CUGBP2 and the hypomethylation of PTPRN2, TRIM27, BCAS3 and ZNF423. Decreased expression of apoptosis genes (P38 and BCL2L1) and increased expression of chemokine (Cxcl2 and ccl20) were detected. Changes of these genes were speculated to affect the ERα-related cell growth as well as cell apoptosis.     

Comparative Toxicity of PCBs and PBDEs Using Human Cancer Cell Lines and Zebrafish Embryos

研究了6种多氯联苯(PCBs)3,3′,4,4′-四氯联苯(PCB77)、2,3,3′,4,4′-五氯联苯(PCB105)、2,3′,4,4′,5-五氯联苯(PCB118)、3,3′,4,4′,5-五氯联苯(PCB126)、2,3,3',4,4',5-六氯联苯(PCB156)和商业型混合多氯联苯Aroclor1254,两种多溴联苯醚(PBDEs)2,2′,4,4′-四溴二苯醚(PBDE47)、十溴二苯醚(PBDE209)对人类癌细胞生长和斑马鱼脱膜与不脱膜胚胎发育的影响.8种化合物均使用0.01、0.1、1.0、10μmol·L-14个浓度进行1~6d的暴露实验.结果表明,PBDE209在最高浓度10μmol·L-1下对结肠癌细胞HCT116(暴露3d后)和RKO(暴露5d后)具有显著的生长抑制作用,所有化合物均对乳腺癌细胞没有显著影响.相比之下,化合物对受精后5~6h(5~6hpf)的斑马鱼胚胎的毒性效应显得比较明显,而各化合物对胚胎的致畸和致死效应又不相同,其毒性强弱依次为PCB126≈PCB156>PCB1254(Aroclor1254)>PBDE47>PCB77>PCB105≈PCB118≈PBDE209.其中PBDE209在未脱膜暴毒后均无致畸与致死现象,脱膜暴毒后最高浓度才表现出显著意义的致畸作用,而PBDE47在最高浓度下可产生高达80%的致畸率,这说明胚胎绒毛膜具有有效阻挡大分子物质如PBDE209进入的作用.PCBs的毒性效应与其空间结构密切相关.如PCB126和PCB105具有相同的分子式,前者在1μmol·L-1下就引起了显著的致死和致畸效应,而后者即使在10μmol·L-1下也没有显著的效应.实验结果也说明不同类型的实验对象所展示的毒性效应并不相同,化合物对体外培养的细胞和发育中的胚胎具有不同的影响.     

Accounting for rate instability and spatial patterns in the boundary analysis of cancer mortality maps

Boundary analysis of cancer maps may highlight areas where causative exposures change through geographic space, the presence of local populations with distinct cancer incidences, or the impact of different cancer control methods. Too often, such analysis ignores the spatial pattern of incidence or mortality rates and overlooks the fact that rates computed from sparsely populated geographic entities can be very unreliable. This paper proposes a new methodology that accounts for the uncertainty and spatial correlation of rate data in the detection of significant edges between adjacent entities or polygons. Poisson kriging is first used to estimate the risk value and the associated standard error within each polygon, accounting for the population size and the risk semivariogram computed from raw rates. The boundary statistic is then defined as half the absolute difference between kriged risks. Its reference distribution, under the null hypothesis of no boundary, is derived through the generation of multiple realizations of the spatial distribution of cancer risk values. This paper presents three types of neutral models generated using methods of increasing complexity: the common random shuffle of estimated risk values, a spatial re-ordering of these risks, or p-field simulation that accounts for the population size within each polygon. The approach is illustrated using age-adjusted pancreatic cancer mortality rates for white females in 295 US counties of the Northeast (1970–1994). Simulation studies demonstrate that Poisson kriging yields more accurate estimates of the cancer risk and how its value changes between polygons (i.e., boundary statistic), relatively to the use of raw rates or local empirical Bayes smoother. When used in conjunction with spatial neutral models generated by p-field simulation, the boundary analysis based on Poisson kriging estimates minimizes the proportion of type I errors (i.e., edges wrongly declared significant) while the frequency of these errors is predicted well by the p-value of the statistical test.

典型电子垃圾拆解区居民多卤代芳烃的膳食暴露及其癌症风险评估

收集浙江典型电子垃圾拆解区和对照区的饮用水、蔬菜、豆类、米饭、鸡蛋、鱼、鸡肉和猪肉等8类食物样品共191个;采用GC/MS 5975B分析样品中23种PBBs,12种PBDEs和27种PCBs;评估当地居民的PHAHs膳食暴露现状及其癌症风险.结果表明,拆解区居民这三大类PHAHs的平均日摄入量是对照区的2~3倍,通过米饭摄入PHAHs的量占当地居民PHAHs总摄入量的48%以上.拆解区居民因食物摄入PHAHs的癌症风险(3.81×10-4)是对照区(1.50×10-4)的2倍多,其中二英类PCBs的风险值占总癌症风险的45%以上.通过米饭摄入PHAHs是主要的暴露途径,二英类PCBs是引起癌症风险的主要贡献因子,电子垃圾拆解释放出的PHAHs通过食物摄入进入居民体内引起的癌症风险要明显高于对照区.     

基于PBPK模型评价三氯乙烯的职业暴露健康风险

三氯乙烯(TCE)作为脱脂和清洗剂被广泛应用于五金、电镀和电子等行业。TCE的职业暴露会产生一系列健康风险,包括过敏症和致癌等。2012年TCE被美国环保局(US EPA)和国际癌症研究机构列为1类致癌物。采用吸附管采样-热脱附/气相色谱-质谱法分析了大连市某企业车间生产工况下空气中TCE浓度。基于生理学的药代动力学(PBPK)模型预测了呼吸暴露途径下TCE在职业工人体内组织中的动态分布、代谢产物生成情况和致癌风险。TCE在不同组织中预测的最大浓度呈现出脂肪肠充分灌注室支气管非充分灌注室肝脏静脉血动脉血的趋势。预测的与致癌有关的代谢产物最大浓度表现为三氯乙酸二氯乙酸三氯乙醛S-二氯乙烯基-L-半胱氨酸。在监测的TCE水平(39.2±24.4)μg·m-3下,暴露8 h·d-1,连续暴露20年,基于外暴露评价的职业工人致癌风险均值为1.31×10-5,该暴露水平下,基于PBPK模型预测的TCE内暴露与外暴露计算的致癌风险水平相近,但基于具有致癌性主要代谢产物的内暴露致癌风险值是外暴露风险值的1.17～1.73倍。TCE的暴露水平越高,基于内暴露方法和外暴露方法的致癌风险评价结果差异越大。敏感性分析表明,心输出血流量和充分灌注室血流量对PBPK模型输出结果具有重要影响。不确定性分析表明,模型参数变化会显著地影响PBPK模型输出结果,但变异在可接受水平。本研究结果说明,评价TCE暴露对人的致癌风险需要考虑其在体内的分布和代谢过程。