Elevated urinary levels of kidney injury molecule-1 among Chinese factory workers exposed to trichloroethylene.
Epidemiological studies suggest that trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure may be associated with renal cancer. The biological mechanisms involved are not exactly known although nephrotoxicity is believed to play a role. Studies on TCE nephrotoxicity among humans, however, have been largely inconsistent. We studied kidney toxicity in Chinese factory workers exposed to TCE using novel sensitive nephrotoxicity markers. Eighty healthy workers exposed to TCE and 45 comparable unexposed controls were included in the present analyses. Personal TCE exposure measurements were taken over a 2-week period before urine collection. Ninety-six percent of workers were exposed to TCE below the current US Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure limit (100 ppm 8h TWA), with a mean (SD) of 22.2 (35.9) ppm. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) and Pi-glutathione S transferase (GST) alpha were elevated among the exposed subjects as compared with the unexposed controls with a strong exposure-response association between individual estimates of TCE exposure and KIM-1 (P < 0.0001). This is the first report to use a set of sensitive nephrotoxicity markers to study the possible effects of TCE on the kidneys. The findings suggest that at relatively low occupational exposure levels a toxic effect on the kidneys can be observed. This finding supports the biological plausibility of linking TCE exposure and renal cancer.
Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. R.C.H.Vermeulen@uu.nl
Roel
R
Vermeulen
Luoping
L
Zhang
Annejet
A
Spierenburg
Xiaojian
X
Tang
Joseph V
JV
Bonventre
Boris
B
Reiss
Min
M
Shen
Martyn T
MT
Smith
Chuangyi
C
Qiu
Yichen
Y
Ge
Zhiying
Z
Ji
Jun
J
Xiong
Jian
J
He
Zhenyue
Z
Hao
Songwang
S
Liu
Yuxuan
Y
Xie
Fei
F
Yue
Weihong
W
Guo
Mark
M
Purdue
Laura E
LE
Beane Freeman
Venkata
V
Sabbisetti
Laiyu
L
Li
Hanlin
H
Huang
Nathaniel
N
Rothman
Qing
Q
Lan
D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D000072596:Hepatitis A Virus Cellular Receptor 1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000652:urine*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011991:Receptors, Virus; D014241:Trichloroethylene / Q000633:toxicity*
C491143:HAVCR1 protein, human; D000072596:Hepatitis A Virus Cellular Receptor 1; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011991:Receptors, Virus; D014241:Trichloroethylene