Neural and Oxidative-Stress Parameters as Early Biomarkers of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome

Objective: Investigate alterations in the expression of specific and sensitive biomarkers of oxidative stress (OS) in blood and in nerves during hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) progression. Methods: Fifty workers with vibration-induced white finger (VWF) symptoms and exposure to hand vibration were selected from a Chinese factory by judgment sampling. Fifty workers not exposed to hand vibration served as a control group. Expression of OS-related indices in blood was measured. The same method was used to select 40 workers separately for the determination of neurological indicators. Blood samples were collected from participants, and expression of indicators in plasma was measured by ELISAs. Results: The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of OS-related indices and neurological indices were analyzed to assess their diagnostic sensitivity to VWF. Among OS indices, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) was >0.9. With regard to the neurological indices, the AUC of S100β, interleukin (IL)-10, creatine kinase (CK), and growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15 was 0.7-0.9. Conclusions: MDA, SOD, GSH, GSH-PX, S100β, IL-10, CK, and GDF-15 could be diagnostic markers for VWF.