Contribution of biological markers to occupational health

Abstract

Occupational diseases are now being assessed at the cellular and molecular levels; this presents new opportunities for prevention and control [Calleman et al., 1978; Ong et al., 1987; Stejskal et al., 1989; Welch and Cullen, 1988; Garry et al., 1989]. The key to these opportunities is the ability to detect biological markers that reflect exposure, response, and susceptibility. Biological markers are not new, however. Biological markers such as blood lead, urinary phenol levels in benzene exposure, and liver function assays have long been used in occupational and public health research and practice. What distinguishes the current generation of markers from previous markers is a greater degree of analytical sensitivity and the ability to describe events that occur earlier in the progression between exposure and clinical disease. There are now new domains of response that were not known to exist 20 years ago. Accompanying this sensitivity is the increased requirement to consider the numerous factors that can influence the appearance of biological markers. It has been observed that all workers with similar exposures do not develop disease or markers indicative of exposure or disease. Various acquired and hereditary host factors are responsible for this variation in responses. The role of assessing the nature and degree of variation between individuals is of paramount importance. Finally, the use of biological markers in occupational health research and practice also brings new ethical and legal considerations into high profile. This paper presents my personal opinions on how biological markers can contribute to occupational health efforts and the new requirements that they bring to the field. As with any technological change, the more we can anticipate the impact, the better our ability to adjust.

Oxidative stress biomarkers and asthma characteristics in adults of the EGEA study

“…The main strength of our study was the investigation of the association between several biomarkers involved in either the response to oxidative stress or related to damage caused by it, and various asthma characteristics. Indeed, while biomarkers of response are intracellular and reflect activities of antioxidant enzymes [8], they are present at the beginning of the "oxidative stress chain" [30,31] in the continuum between environment and the disease. Conversely, FlOPs are a global marker of oxidative stress, reflecting a mixture of oxidation products from DNA, proteins and lipids [18], and 8-isoprostanes are a specific products of lipid peroxidation [32].…”

Occupational Illness

“…34 If properly used, a biologic marker can confirm that exposure has occurred, as in the case of lead in the circulation indicated by the whole-blood lead concentration and by the zinc protoporphyrin assay. But even seemingly well-established biologic markers may be misleading.…”

Biomarker Research in Neurotoxicology: The Role of Mechanistic Studies to Bridge the Gap between the Laboratory and Epidemiological Investigations

“…The field of biomarkers has been the object of increased interest in the past few years, as evidenced by the large number of publications, workshops, and symposia devoted to this topic (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). The term biomarker may be overused, as it is utilized in reference to different end points of toxicity in animals or humans.…”