title: Determination of HPRT mutant frequency and molecular analysis of T-lymphocyte mutants derived from coke-oven workers.
abstract: We measured the frequency of mutant (MF) lymphocytes at the hprt locus in a population of 43 coke-oven workers exposed to PAH and in a group of 26 non-exposed workers. A non-significant increase in MF in the exposed group (19.0 +/- 16.3) compared to the non-exposed group (15.8 +/- 14.6) was observed. Moreover, when we considered smoking habits for the overall population, the MF values were higher, although not significantly, in smokers than in non-smokers. For some T-cell mutant clone structural alterations, splicing and coding errors were detected by PCR-based methods. We analysed 161 HPRT- clones, derived from exposed and non-exposed workers by multiplex-PCR and 56 HPRT- clones by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Overall, the percentages of the different types of gene alterations were similar in exposed and non-exposed subjects. Only the frequency of splice mutations in mutant clones derived from coke-oven workers was higher (22%) than in non-exposed donors (11%).
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zanesi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mognato
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pizzato
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Viezzer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Celotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003077:Coke; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D007221:Industry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009153:Mutagens / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009154:Mutation; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D003077:Coke; D009153:Mutagens; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase