Immune system responses to occupational insults.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Biagini, Raymond E. ; Hull, R. DeLon ; Johanning E ; MacKenzie, Barbara A. ; Phipps, Frederick C. ; Robertson, Shirley ; Wippel W
• Description:
  An immunological test battery for assessing the functional status of workers' immune systems was developed. The test battery was designed to examine immunological changes in museum workers potentially exposed to the mold Stachybotrys-atra. The battery consisted of tests used to determine total and differential lymphocyte cellularity, clinical chemistry parameters, total serum immunoglobulin-E (IgE) concentrations, and S-atra specific IgE and immunoglobulin-G (IgG) titers; to evaluate lymphoblastogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin-A, and pokeweed mitogen and natural killer (NK) activity against K-562 target cells; and to perform immunophenotyping. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 57 museum employees who worked in a water damaged basement and 20 comparisons without exposure to S-atra. The samples were analyzed using the tests in the battery. The proportion of CD3+ cells and extent of lymphoblastogenesis induced by PHA were significantly decreased in the museum workers compared to the referents. The level of NK cell activity and the red cell distribution width (RDW), a parameter related to erythrocyte counts, were significantly increased in the museum workers. No significant differences in the other test parameters were seen between the two groups. The proportion of CD3+ cells in the museum workers was significantly correlated with the responses to PHA stimulation. NK cell activity was significantly associated with the RDW. S-atra specific IgG titers were also significantly associated with blastogenic responses to PHA. The authors conclude that the observed differences in CD3+ cell counts and RDW between the museum workers and referents, though statistically significant, are of unknown clinical significance. The association between CD3+ counts and PHA induced lymphoblastogenesis does suggest a possible effect of S-atra on T-lymphocytes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Cell Division Epidemiology Fungi Immune System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Immunochemistry; Serological-techniques; Blood-cells; Cell-division; Immune-reaction; Analytical-methods; Epidemiology; Molds; Occupational-exposure
• ISBN:
  9789518021028
• ISSN:
  1237-6183
• Publisher:
  Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  123-127
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00229615
• Citation:
  Sixth US-Finnish Joint Symposium on Occupational Health and Safety, People and Work, Proceedings of the Sixth FIOH-NIOSH Joint Symposium on Occupational Health and Safety, August 8-10, 1995, Espoo, Finland. People and Work - Research Reports 3. H. Nordman, J. Starck, A. Tossavainen, E. Viikari-Juntura, eds. Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health; 1995 Aug; :123-127
• Editor(s):
  Nordman H; Starck J; Tossavainen A; Viikari-Juntura E
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Sixth US-Finnish Joint Symposium on Occupational Health and Safety, People and Work, Proceedings of the Sixth FIOH-NIOSH Joint Symposium on Occupational Health and Safety, 8-10 August 1995, Espoo, Finland. People and Work - Research Reports 3
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/243428/cdc_243428_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]