title: Response of lympho-monocytes to phytohemagglutinin in urban workers.
abstract: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether traffic police exposed to urban pollutants could be at risk of changes on proliferative response of blood lympho-monocytes to the mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) compared to a control group. Traffic police were matched with controls by sex, age, length of service, drinking habits and smoking habits after excluding main confounding factors. So, 77 traffic police exposed to urban pollutants (43 men and 34 women) and 77 controls with indoor activity (43 men and 34 women) were included in the study. The proliferative response of blood lympho-monocytes to the mitogen PHA was significantly lower in male and female traffic police compared to controls (respectively, P=0.000 and 0.014). The possibility of an effect on immune system and therefore on the blood lympho-monocytes proliferative answer in traffic police exposed to urban pollutants, can be assumed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Via Monte delle Gioie No. 13, 00199 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: Maria Valeria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.forename: Tiziana Paola
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Baccolo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernardini
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciarrocca
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caciari
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomao