The formation of SCEs as an effect of occupational exposure to formaldehyde

• Published in: Archives of toxicology Vol. 96; no. 4; pp. 1101 - 1108
• Main Authors: Ghelli, Federica, Cocchi, Enrico, Bellisario, Valeria, Buglisi, Martina, Squillacioti, Giulia, Santovito, Alfredo, Bono, Roberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Archives & records; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer; Carcinogens; Cytochrome; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1; Cytochrome P450; Cytokines; Disinfectants; DNA Damage; Environmental Health; Enzymes; Exposure limits; Formaldehyde; Formaldehyde - toxicity; Gene polymorphism; Genetic engineering; Genotoxicity; Genotoxicity and Carcinogenicity; Glutathione transferase; GSTM1 protein; GSTT1 protein; Humans; Interleukin 1; Interleukin 10; Interleukin 6; Lymphocytes; Occupational exposure; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational health; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Pathology; Peripheral blood; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Polymorphism; Preservatives; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Regression models; Risk management; Samplers; Sister Chromatid Exchange; Toxicology; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Workers; X-ray Repair Cross Complementing Protein 1; XPC protein; XRCC1 protein; Biomonitoring; Occupational exposure; Formaldehyde; Genotoxicity
• ISSN: 0340-5761; 1432-0738; 1432-0738
• DOI: 10.1007/s00204-022-03238-w

Formaldehyde (FA) is a ubiquitous toxic chemical employed worldwide due to its disinfectant and preservative properties. Despite being classified as a human carcinogen, FA is still employed as formalin in pathology wards as standard fixative. We evaluated its relationship with the formation of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes on 57 pathologists and 48 controls and the risk/protective role played by several genetic polymorphisms. All subjects were assessed for SCEs and genotyped for the most common cancer-associated gene polymorphisms: CYP1A1 exon 7 (A > G), CYP1A1 *2A (T > C), CYP2C19 *2 (G > A), GSTT1 (presence/absence), GSTM1 (presence/absence), GSTP1 (A > G), XRCC1 (G399A), XRCC1 (C194T), XRCC1 (A280G), XPC exon 15 (A939C), XPC exon 9 (C499T), TNFα  − 308 G > A), IL10  − 1082 (G > A), and IL6  − 174 (G > C). Air-FA concentration was assessed through passive personal samplers. Pathologists, exposed to 55.2 μg/m 3 of air-FA, showed a significantly higher SCEs frequency than controls, exposed, respectively, to 18.4 μg/m 3 . Air-FA was directly correlated with SCEs frequency and inversely with the replication index (RI). Regression models showed FA exposure as a significant predictor in developing SCEs, while did not highlight any role of the selected polymorphisms. Our study confirms the role of low air-FA levels as genotoxicity inductor, highlighting the importance to define exposure limits that could be safer for exposed workers.