Tumor promoter action of chromium-containing stainless steel welding particulate matter in the lungs of A/J mice

Details

• Personal Author:
  Antonini JM ; Battelli LA ; Erdely A ; Kashon ML ; Keane M ; Meighan TG ; Zeidler-Erdely PC
• Description:
  Epidemiology studies show that occupational exposure to metal-rich welding particulate matter (PM) increases lung cancer risk. However, animal studies are lacking to conclusively link welding with an increased cancer risk. PM derived from stainless steel (SS) welding practices, in particular, contains carcinogenic metals such as hexavalent chromium and nickel. Previously, we found that PM derived from gas metal arc (GMA) welding of SS caused a borderline increase in lung tumor incidence and a significant, chronic immune response in the lungs of mice. Thus, we hypothesized that welding PM may act as a tumor promoter and increase lung tumor multiplicity. In this study, the capacity of GMA-SS welding PM to promote lung tumors was evaluated using a 2-stage (initiation-promotion) model in lung tumor susceptible A/J mice. Age and weight-matched male mice (n=26-29/group) were treated either with the initiator 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA;10 microg/g;i.p.) or vehicle (corn oil; CO) followed by 5 weekly pharyngeal aspirations of GMA-SS (340 or 680 microg) or PBS. Lung tumors were enumerated at 30 weeks following initiation with MCA. Body weights were recorded at 2 week intervals and no effect of treatment was found. MCA initiation followed by GMA-SS exposure promoted lung tumor multiplicity in both the lower dose (12.0 +/- 1.5 tumors/mouse; p=0.0001) and high dose (14.0 +/- 1.8 tumors/mouse; p=0.0001) groups significantly above that of MCA/PBS (4.77 +/- 0.7 tumors/mouse). Not only was this highly significant for the average total number per mouse, multiplicity was also increased (p<0.004) across all five individual lung regions of GMA-SS-exposed mice. No treatment effects were found in the corn oil groups at 30 weeks and also, as expected, tumor incidence was greater than 93% in the MCA treated groups which verified its carcinogenic potency. In conclusion, GMA-SS welding PM acts as a lung tumor promoter in vivo. These novel findings implicate that susceptible individuals may be at greater risk for lung cancer development after exposure to welding PM. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Chromium Immune System Laboratories Lung Lung Diseases Metals Neoplasms Nickel Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Toxicology Welding

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• Keywords:
  Arc-welders Arc-welding Cancer Cell-alteration Cellular-reactions Dose-response Exposure-levels Gas-welders Hexavalent-chromium-compounds Immune-reaction In-vivo-study Laboratory-animals Lung-cancer Lung-cells Lung-disorders Metal-compounds Methyl-compounds Nickel-compounds Particulates Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-system Risk-factors Stainless-steel Tumors Welders Welders-lung Welding-industry Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  1096-6080
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  132
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042409
• Citation:
  Toxicologist 2013 Mar; 132(1):237
• CAS Registry Number:
  3-Methylcholanthrene (CAS RN 56-49-5) ; Chromium(6+) (CAS RN 18540-29-9) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Stainless Steel (CAS RN 12597-68-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The Toxicologist. Society of Toxicology 52nd Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 10-14, 2013, San Antonio, Texas
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8e0a8c199a9b4398d64259218ad8ec2317f0a4d3f6b1717fa15c1745b5c558963d0b4b6630dd8cb98e09f7f997b961276d5a14c2212a571905b7b09960f77eb0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194641/cdc_194641_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 580.82 KB ]