Occupational Exposure to Formaldehyde, Hematotoxicity, and Leukemia-Specific Chromosome Changes in Cultured Myeloid Progenitor Cells

Luoping Zhang(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Xiaojiang Tang(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Nathaniel Rothman(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Roel Vermeulen(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Zhiying Ji(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Min Shen(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Chuangyi Qiu(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Weihong Guo(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Songwang Liu(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Boris Reiss(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Laura Beane Freeman(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Yichen Ge(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Alan Hubbard(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Ming Hua(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Aaron Blair(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Noé Galván(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Xiaolin Ruan(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Blanche P. Alter(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Kerry X. Xin(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Senhua Li(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Lee E. Moore(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Sungkyoon Kim(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Yuxuan Xie(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Richard B. Hayes(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Mariko Azuma(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Michael Hauptmann(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Jun Xiong(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Patricia Stewart(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Laiyu Li(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Stephen M. Rappaport(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Hanlin Huang(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Joseph F. Fraumeni(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Martyn T. Smith(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Qing Lan(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention
January 1, 2010
10.1158/1055-9965.epi-09-0762
Cited by 211Open Access
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Abstract

There are concerns about the health effects of formaldehyde exposure, including carcinogenicity, in light of elevated indoor air levels in new homes and occupational exposures experienced by workers in health care, embalming, manufacturing, and other industries. Epidemiologic studies suggest that formaldehyde exposure is associated with an increased risk of leukemia. However, the biological plausibility of these findings has been questioned because limited information is available on the ability of formaldehyde to disrupt hematopoietic function. Our objective was to determine if formaldehyde exposure disrupts hematopoietic function and produces leukemia-related chromosome changes in exposed humans. We examined the ability of formaldehyde to disrupt hematopoiesis in a study of 94 workers in China (43 exposed to formaldehyde and 51 frequency-matched controls) by measuring complete blood counts and peripheral stem/progenitor cell colony formation. Further, myeloid progenitor cells, the target for leukemogenesis, were cultured from the workers to quantify the level of leukemia-specific chromosome changes, including monosomy 7 and trisomy 8, in metaphase spreads of these cells. Among exposed workers, peripheral blood cell counts were significantly lowered in a manner consistent with toxic effects on the bone marrow and leukemia-specific chromosome changes were significantly elevated in myeloid blood progenitor cells. These findings suggest that formaldehyde exposure can have an adverse effect on the hematopoietic system and that leukemia induction by formaldehyde is biologically plausible, which heightens concerns about its leukemogenic potential from occupational and environmental exposures.

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