Environmental exposure and clinical correlates of hepatocellular carcinoma in New York City: a case only study
Menée à partir d'échantillons sanguins prélevés sur 155 patients atteints d'un carcinome hépatocellulaire, cette étude analyse l'association entre une exposition environnementale aux adduits formés par l'aflatoxine B1 ou par les hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques (HAP) avec l'albumine et l'incidence de la maladie à New York
In the U.S., Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence rates have increased. We aimed to determine whether environmental exposure plays a role in the high incidence of HCC observed in New York City. We conducted a hospital-based case only study to examine the prevalence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-albumin adducts and the distribution of adducts by different characteristics of HCC patients. Blood samples were collected from 155 HCC patients for biomarker analyses. We observed that about 46% and 49% of cases had detectable AFB1- and PAH-albumin adducts, respectively. There were significant differences between AFB1-albumin adducts and selected factors such as HCV infection status (p = 0.04), diabetes (p = 0.03) and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage (p = 0.02). Cases with detectable PAH-albumin adducts had a smoking history compared with those with nondetectable levels (p = 0.04). The level of AFB1-albumin adducts was positively correlated with plasma bilirubin (rs = 0.32, p < 0.0001) and adiponectin concentrations (rs = 0.28, p = 0.0005). The level of aflatoxin B1-albumin adducts was negatively associated with blood albumin concentration (rs = − 0.28, p = 0.0009) and plasma DNA LINE-1 methylation (rs = − 0.16, p = 0.04). Our study provides additional evidence that environmental exposures including to aflatoxin might drive the high incidence of HCC observed in the New York City.