title: Long term impact of sulfur mustard exposure on peripheral blood mononuclear subpopulations--Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study (SICS).
abstract: The most important long-term morbidity problem of sulfur mustard (SM) toxicity is pulmonary complications but the pathogenesis of these complications is not clearly understood. This study evaluates the peripheral blood mononuclear sub-sets and their correlation with pulmonary function in SM exposed civilian cases 20 years post-exposure as gathered in the context of the Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study (SICS). Samples were randomly selected from two groups, SM-exposed (n=372) and control (n=128), with the same ethnicity, culture, and demography. Three color flow cytometry was applied for peripheral blood mononuclear sub-population determination. Results indicated a significant decrease in CD45+/CD3+, CD45+/CD3+/CD4+, and an increase in CD3+/CD16+56+ percentages. It was also found that absolute count of NK cells was highly increased in peripheral blood of exposed cases. There was a significant increase in NK cell count of SM exposed group with pulmonary problems as compared to the same group without pulmonary problems (p-value<0.04) based on the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). The findings showed a significant negative correlation between absolute numbers of T lymphocyte and FVC % and positive correlation with FEV1/FVC%. The results also demonstrated that absolute numbers of monocytes had a negative correlation with FVC %. We propose that NK and T cells are probably involved in the pathogenesis or immune reactions to the delayed pulmonary complications induced by SM. This hypothesis should be tested in a more severe pulmonary complicated group.
authors: Immunoregulation Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Electronic address: tghazanfari@yahoo.com.
authors: Tooba
authors: T
authors: Ghazanfari
authors: Amina
authors: A
authors: Kariminia
authors: Roya
authors: R
authors: Yaraee
authors: Soghrat
authors: S
authors: Faghihzadeh
authors: Sussan K
authors: SK
authors: Ardestani
authors: Massoumeh
authors: M
authors: Ebtekar
authors: Ali
authors: A
authors: Mostafaie
authors: Abbas
authors: A
authors: Foroutan
authors: Abbas
authors: A
authors: Rezaei
authors: Jalaleddin
authors: J
authors: Shams
authors: Mahmoud
authors: M
authors: Mahmoudi
authors: Mohammad R
authors: MR
authors: Vaez-Mahdavi
authors: Mohammad R
authors: MR
authors: Soroush
authors: Mohammadreza
authors: M
authors: Jalali-Nadoushan
authors: Sakine
authors: S
authors: Moaiedmohseni
authors: Soheila
authors: S
authors: Ajdary
authors: Hiedeh
authors: H
authors: Darabi
authors: Mohammad M
authors: MM
authors: Naghizadeh
authors: Hadi
authors: H
authors: Kazemi
authors: Zuhair M
authors: ZM
authors: Hassan
mesh_terms: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000187:drug effects*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009151:Mustard Gas / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents; D009151:Mustard Gas
keywords: Leukocyte sub-sets; NK cells; Pulmonary function; Sulfur mustard