title: Distributions and ranges of values of blood and urinary biomarker of inflammation and oxidative stress in the workers engaged in office machine manufactures: evaluation of reference values.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interleukins, interferons and oxidative DNA products are important biomarkers assessing the inflammations and tissue damages caused by toxic materials in the body. We tried to evaluate distributions, reference values and age related changes of blood levels of inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein (CRP), IgE and urine levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) among workers in a cohort study evaluating the health influences of toner particles.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1366 male workers under age 50 years (age 19-49 years; 718 exposed and 648 not exposed to toner particles) in a cross sectional study of 1614 (categorized as 809 exposed and 805 not exposed, age 19-59 years) workers in a photocopier company has been followed prospectively as the cohort. Blood levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-8, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), CRP, IgE and urine 8-OHdG were measured annually for 5 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reference values of the biomarkers are; CRP: 0.01-0.63×10(-2) g/L, IgE: 6-1480 IU/mL, IL-4: 2.6-76.1 pg/mL, IL-6: 0.4-4.9 pg/mL and 8-OHdG: 1.5-8.2 ng/mgCr. We could not evaluate reference values for IL-8 and IFN- γ because most of the values were below the sensitivity limits (2.0 pg/mL and 0.1 IU/mL, respectively). There were no differences of the biomarker levels between the toner exposed and the control workers. We observed a statistically significant age related decrease of serum IL-4 levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first report assessing the distributions and reference values of inflammatory biomarker levels in a large scaled cohort. We observed age related changes of some of the biomarkers. We could not detect any differences of the studied biomarker values between the toner exposed and the control workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, Tokai University School of Medicine, 192-0032, Tokyo, Japan. murase.tadashi@hachioji-hosp.tokai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murase
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kochi
authors.forename: Niina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Terunuma
authors.forename: Shizuka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurosaki
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yanagi
authors.forename: Bungo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Uchino
authors.forename: Kayo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitahara
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogami
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis / Q000652:urine; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D003839:Deoxyadenosines / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D007221:Industry; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C436623:8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyadenosine; D016207:Cytokines; D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D002097:C-Reactive Protein