Detection of trisomy 7 in bronchial cells from uranium miners
- and others
New Mexico was the largest producer of uranium in the western world during 1960s and 1970s. Investigators at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine`s Epidemiology and Cancer Control Program have been conducting epidemiological studies on uranium miners over the past 2 decades. Currently, this cohort includes more than 3600 men who had completed at least 1 y of underground work experience in New Mexico by December 31, 1976. These miners, who are now in their 5th through 7th decades, the age when lung cancer incidence is highest, are at high risk for developing this disease because they were exposed to high levels of radon progeny in the mines, and they also smoked tobacco. However, not all people comparably exposed develop lung cancer; in fact, the lifetime risk of lung cancer for the smoking uranium miners has been projected by epidemiological analyses to be no higher than 50%. Therefore, the identification of gene alterations in bronchial epithelium would be a valuable tool to ascertain which miners are at greatest risk for lung cancer. The underlying significance of the current effort confirms the hypothesis that chronic exposure to high concentrations of {alpha}-particles and tobacco smoke produces genetically altered lung epithelial cells throughout the respiratory tract of some susceptible individuals before they develop clinical disease.
- Research Organization:
- Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Inst., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Inhalation Toxicology Research Inst.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76EV01013
- OSTI ID:
- 381378
- Report Number(s):
- ITRI--146; ON: DE96008986
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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