Association of formaldehyde exposure,genome-wide DNA methylation,and childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship of formaldehyde exposure, genome-wide DNA methylation, and prevalence of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia( cALL).METHODS: A case-control study was conducted.Fifty-nine newly diagnosed cALL patients were selected as case group,and 54 orthopedic patients were included in control group.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the level of formaldehyde-human serum albumin( FA-HSA) and immunofluorescence method was used to examine the genome-wide DNA methylation level in whole blood.RESULTS: The level of FA-HAS in the blood of the case group was higher than that in the control group( median 59.61 vs 35.06 fg/L,P < 0.01).Genomic-wide DNA methylation level in the case group was lower than that in the controls[( 2.86 ± 0.31) vs( 3.00 ± 0.28),P < 0.05].Formaldehyde exposure level was not associated with genomic-wide DNA methylation( Spearman correlation coefficient =-0.18,P > 0.05).High FA-HAS level and hypomethylation of genomic-wide DNA were risk factors for cALL onset( P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: Patients with high level of formaldehyde exposure and hypomethylation of genomic-wide DNA have a high risk of cALL.