Biomarkers of carcinogen exposure and cancer risk in a coke plant

To evaluate the association between an indicator of carcinogen exposure (peripheral blood leukocyte DNA adducts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and an early indicator of neoplastic transformation (sputum epithelial cell membrane antigens binding by monoclonal antibodies against small cell lung cancer and against nonsmall cell lung cancer), a survey of 350 coke-oven workers and 100 unexposed workers was planned. This paper reports a pilot investigation on a subgroup of 23 coke-oven workers and 8 unexposed controls. A "gas regulator" worker with positive tumor antigen binding was identified. Results show that smokers, subjects with decreased pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 sec/forced vital capacity% < 80), and those with morphological dysplasia of sputum cells have higher levels of DNA adducts. The gas regulators showed the highest values for adducts; however, no significant difference of adduct levels was found between the coke-oven group and unexposed controls.