| HLA-B*1301 as a Biomarker for Genetic Susceptibility to Hypersensitivity Dermatitis Induced by Trichloroethylene among Workers in China Haishan Li,1* Yufei Dai,1* Hanlin Huang,2* Laiyu Li,2 Shuguang Leng,1 Juan Cheng,1 Yong Niu,1 Huawei Duan,1 Qingjun Liu,1 Xing Zhang,1 Xianqing Huang,3 Jinxin Xie,4 Zhiming Feng,4 Juncai Wang,4 Jiaxi He,3 and Yuxin Zheng1 1Key Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; 2Department of Toxicology, Hospital for Occupational Diseases Control of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; 3Hospital for Occupational Diseases Control of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; 4Institute of Health Inspection of Longgang District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Abstract
Background: Trichloroethylene (TCE) is used extensively as an industrial solvent and has been recognized as one of the major environmental pollutants. To date, > 200 cases of TCE-induced hypersensitivity dermatitis among exposed workers have been reported worldwide, and TCE exposure has become one of the critical occupational health issues in Asia. Objectives: The study aimed to identify genetic susceptible biomarkers associated with the TCE-induced hypersensitivity dermatitis in genes located in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region. Methods: From 1998 to 2006, 121 cases with TCE-induced hypersensitivity dermatitis and 142 tolerant controls were recruited into the population-based case–control study. We determined HLA alleles B, DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1, by sequence-based typing. p-Values were corrected for comparisons of multiple HLA alleles. In addition, we compared and analyzed the structure character of amino acid residues of HLA molecules found in participants. Results: We obtained complete genotyping data of 113 cases and 142 controls. The allele HLA-B*1301 was present in 83 (73.5%) of 113 patients compared with 13 (9.2%) of 142 tolerant workers (odds ratio = 27.5 ; 95% confidence interval, 13.5–55.7 ; corrected p = 1.48  10–21) . In addition, the HLA-B*44 alleles were present in 6.2% (7/113) of patients, but were absent in TCE-tolerant workers. Residue 95 shared by HLA-B*1301 and HLA-B*44 molecules formed a different pocket F than other residues. Conclusions: The allele HLA-B*1301 is strongly associated with TCE-induced hypersensitivity dermatitis among exposed workers and might be used as a biomarker to predict high risk individuals to TCE. Key words: biomarkers, genetic polymorphism, human leukocyte antigen, hypersensitivity dermatitis, trichloroethylene. Environ Health Perspect 115:1553–1556 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10325 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 24 August 2007]
Address correspondence to Y. Zheng, Key Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanwei Rd. 29, Beijing, P.R. China, 100050. Telephone: 8610-83132515. Fax: 8610-83132681. E-mail: yxzheng@163bj.com *These authors contributed equally to this work. This project was proposed and initiated by F. He (China CDC) . We thank Q. Wei (University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center) , Y. Liang (University of Fudan) , M. Spartz (University of Minnesota) , and H. Wang (University of Maryland) for their editing of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (grants 30271115, 30500403, and 30625031) and by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (2002CB512903) . The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 3 April 2007 ; accepted 24 August 2007.
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