ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2021
Elevated Alu retroelement copy number among workers exposed to diesel engine exhaust.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exposure to household air pollution in relation to stomach and esophageal cancer in Xuanwei, China.Environment international · 2025Article
- Exposure to smoky coal combustion emissions and leukocyte Alu retroelement copy number.Carcinogenesis · 2023Article
- Alterations to biomarkers related to long-term exposure to diesel exhaust at concentrations below occupational exposure limits in the European Union and the USA.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Exposure to diesel engine exhaust and alterations to the Cys34/Lys525 adductome of human serum albumin.Environmental toxicology and pharmacology · 2022Article
- Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter and genome-wide DNA methylation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A panel study conducted in Beijing, China.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
26 authors at 8 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMillions of workers worldwide are exposed to diesel engine exhaust (DEE), a known genotoxic carcinogen. Alu retroelements are repetitive DNA sequences that can multiply and compromise genomic stability. There is some evidence linking altered Alu repeats to cancer and elevated mortality risks. However, whether Alu repeats are influenced by environmental pollutants is unexplored. In an occupational setting with high DEE exposure levels, we investigated associations with Alu repeat copy number.
methodsA cross-sectional study of 54 male DEE-exposed workers from an engine testing facility and a comparison group of 55 male unexposed controls was conducted in China. Personal air samples were assessed for elemental carbon, a DEE surrogate, using NIOSH Method 5040. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to measure Alu repeat copy number relative to albumin (Alb) single-gene copy number in leucocyte DNA. The unitless Alu/Alb ratio reflects the average quantity of Alu repeats per cell. Linear regression models adjusted for age and smoking status were used to estimate relations between DEE-exposed workers versus unexposed controls, DEE tertiles (6.1-39.0, 39.1-54.5 and 54.6-107.7 µg/m
resultsDEE-exposed workers had a higher average Alu/Alb ratio than the unexposed controls (p=0.03). Further, we found a positive exposure-response relationship (p=0.02). The Alu/Alb ratio was highest among workers exposed to the top tertile of DEE versus the unexposed controls (1.12±0.08 SD vs 1.06±0.07 SD, p=0.01).
conclusionOur findings suggest that DEE exposure may contribute to genomic instability. Further investigations of environmental pollutants, Alu copy number and carcinogenesis are warranted.
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