The pro-inflammatory stimulus of zinc- and copper-containing welding fumes in whole blood assay via protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibition

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 1315
• Main Authors: Bleidorn, Johannes, Alamzad-Krabbe, Hanif, Gerhards, Benjamin, Kraus, Thomas, Brand, Peter, Krabbe, Julia, Martin, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.02.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13/21; 692/308/53; 692/420/256/2516; 82; 82/1; Blood; Cardiovascular diseases; Copper; Fever; Fumes; Health risks; Humanities and Social Sciences; IL-1β; Immune response; Immune system; Inflammation; Interleukin 6; Interleukin 8; Investigations; Long-term effects; multidisciplinary; Protein-tyrosine-phosphatase; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tumor necrosis factor-α; Welding; Zinc
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37803-0

An asymptomatic systemic inflammation after exposure to zinc- and copper-containing welding fumes has been described as mild form of metal fume fever in recent studies. Since chronic systemic inflammation leads to a higher cardiovascular risk, examining the inflammation with the underlying pathomechanism is necessary to estimate and hopefully prevent long-term effects of welding. We established a whole blood assay to investigate the effects of zinc- and copper-containing welding fume particles on the blood immune response. Increased levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNFα and IL-1β determined after 24 hours of exposure indicated an acute systemic inflammatory reaction. In vitro increases of IL-6 were comparable to in vivo increases of serum IL-6 levels in a study with welding fume exposure of human subjects. Inhibition of PTP1B was identified as one pathway responsible for the effects of zinc- and copper-containing welding fumes and therefore welding fume fever. In conclusion, the whole blood assay is a reliable and feasible method to investigate effects of zinc- and copper-containing welding fumes on the immune system and as a surrogate for systemic inflammation and welding fume fever. Future research can utilize whole blood assays to reduce and partially replace human exposure studies for further investigations of welding fume fever.