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Benzo(A)pyrene metabolism and blast transformation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from smoking and nonsmoking populations and lung cancer patients
Author(s) -
Jett James R.,
Moses Harold L.,
Branum Earl L.,
Taylor William F.,
Fontana Robert S.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197801)41:1<192::aid-cncr2820410128>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - lung cancer , pyrene , lymphocyte , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , benzo(a)pyrene , medicine , carcinogen , metabolite , malignant transformation , cancer , metabolism , lung , endocrinology , immunology , pathology , chemistry , biochemistry , in vitro , organic chemistry
Benzo(a)pyrene metabolism and lymphocyte transformation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were evaluated in 3 groups of male patients. Group I were healthy nonsmokers, Group II were smokers, Group III were lung cancer patients, primarily stage I, evaluated before radiation or chemotherapy. Benzo(a)pyrene metabolism was assayed by a method involving quantitation of water soluble products produced from 3 H‐benzo(a)pyrene over an eight hour reaction and lymphocyte transformation was measured by 3 H‐thymidine incorporation. The mean level of metabolism of benzo(a)pyrene was significantly higher in the smoking control group, but was not significantly different in the nonsmoking control and the lung cancer groups. Lymphocyte transformation was significantly lower in the lung cancer patients than in either of the control groups despite the fact that 38 out of 57 of the lung cancer patients had stage I disease. Two pieces of evidence derived in this study indicate that the degree of lymphocyte transformation by mitogens influences the benzo(a)pyrene metabolism. First, the mean level of benzo(a)pyrene metabolites in lung cancer patients with lymphocyte stimulation less than 10 4 cpm was significantly lower than in those cancer patients with lymphocyte stimulation greater than 10 4 cpm. Secondly, when mononuclear cells from three control patients were stimulated with variable concentrations of mitogens, it was found that water soluble metabolite production and the degree of lymphocyte transformation had a significant correlation coefficient.