Title: Lymphocyte toxicity and T cell receptor excision circles in workers exposed to benzene.

Authors: Lan, Qing; Zhang, Luoping; Hakim, Fran; Shen, Min; Memon, Sarfraz; Li, Guilan; Vermeulen, Roel; Smith, Martyn T; Rappaport, Stephen M; Hayes, Richard; Linet, Martha; Yin, Songnian; Rothman, Nathaniel; Rabkin, Charles S

Published In Chem Biol Interact, (2005 May 30)

Abstract: We have previously reported that benzene decreases peripheral white blood cell and platelet counts and specifically lowers subsets of several blood cell types, including CD4+-T cells, B cells, NK cells, and granulocytes. Diminished thymus function has been implicated as a mechanism for CD4+-T cell loss in other conditions such as AIDS by assays of T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), a marker of naive T cells that have recently emigrated from the thymus. To evaluate alteration of thymic function as a mechanism for benzene's effects on CD4+-T cell counts, we measured total TREC levels in 45 benzene-exposed workers and 45 unexposed controls. There was no significant difference in TREC levels per 10(6) peripheral blood leukocytes in the benzene-exposed workers compared to the controls. Although our study does not rule out counterbalancing alterations of TREC levels in specific T cell subsets, benzene's lymphotoxicity does not appear to be mediated through diminished thymus function.

PubMed ID: 15935806

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication