TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of smoking habit on the frequency of micronuclei in human lymphocytes
T2 - Results from the Human MicroNucleus project
AU - Bonassi, Stefano
AU - Neri, Monica
AU - Lando, Cecilia
AU - Ceppi, Marcello
AU - Lin, Yi Ping
AU - Chang, Wushou P.
AU - Holland, Nina
AU - Kirsch-Volders, Micheline
AU - Zeiger, Errol
AU - Fenech, Michael
AU - Ban, Sadayuki
AU - Barale, Roberto
AU - Bigatti, Maria Paola
AU - Bolognesi, Claudia
AU - Jia, Cao
AU - Di Giorgio, Marina
AU - Ferguson, Lynnette R.
AU - Fucic, Aleksandra
AU - Hrelia, Patrizia
AU - Krishnaja, Ayyathan P.
AU - Lee, Tung Kwang
AU - Migliore, Lucia
AU - Mikhalevich, Ludmilla
AU - Mirkova, Ekaterina
AU - Mosesso, Pasquale
AU - Müller, Wolfgang Ulrich
AU - Odagiri, Youichi
AU - Scarfi, Maria Rosaria
AU - Szabova, Elena
AU - Vorobtsova, Irena
AU - Vral, Anne
AU - Zijno, Andrea
N1 - Funding Information:
This study would have not been possible without the valuable contributions of all the scientists who have spent considerable time and effort preparing and contributing their data to the HUMN database. This study was supported by grants funded by the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) and the European Union 5th FP (QLRT-2000-00628), and the National Science Council of Taiwan. Interested researchers are invited to collaborate and to get in touch with any member of the steering committee of the HUMN project (S.B., M.F., W.P.C., N.H., M.K.-V., E.Z.). Further information can be found on the web site of the project: http://www.humn.org .
PY - 2003/3
Y1 - 2003/3
N2 - The effect of tobacco smoking on the frequency of micronuclei (MN) in human lymphocytes has been the object of many population studies. In most reports, the results were unexpectedly negative, and in many instances smokers had lower frequencies of MN than non-smokers. A pooled re-analysis of 24 databases from the HUMN international collaborative project has been performed with the aim of understanding the impact of smoking habits on MN frequency. The complete database included 5710 subjects, with 3501 non-smokers, 1409 current smokers, and 800 former smokers, among subjects in occupational and environmental surveys. The overall result of the re-analysis confirmed the small decrease of MN frequencies in current smokers (frequency ratio (FR)=0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.93-1.01) and in former smokers (FR=0.96, 95% CI=0.91-1.01), when compared to non-smokers. MN frequency was not influenced by the number of cigarettes smoked per day among subjects occupationally exposed to genotoxic agents, whereas a typical U-shaped curve is observed for non-exposed smokers, showing a significant increase of MN frequency in individuals smoking 30 cigarettes or more per day (FR=1.59, 95% CI=1.35-1.88). This analysis confirmed that smokers do not experience an overall increase in MN frequency, although when the interaction with occupational exposure is taken into account, heavy smokers were the only group showing a significant increase in genotoxic damage as measured by the micronucleus assay in lymphocytes. From these results some general recommendations for the design of biomonitoring studies involving smokers can be formulated. Quantitative data about smoking habit should always be collected because, in the absence of such data, the simple comparison of smokers versus non-smokers could be misleading. The sub-group of heavy smokers (≥30 cigarettes per day) should be specifically evaluated whenever it is large enough to satisfy statistical requirements. The presence of an interaction between smoking habit and occupational exposure to genotoxic agents should be always tested.
AB - The effect of tobacco smoking on the frequency of micronuclei (MN) in human lymphocytes has been the object of many population studies. In most reports, the results were unexpectedly negative, and in many instances smokers had lower frequencies of MN than non-smokers. A pooled re-analysis of 24 databases from the HUMN international collaborative project has been performed with the aim of understanding the impact of smoking habits on MN frequency. The complete database included 5710 subjects, with 3501 non-smokers, 1409 current smokers, and 800 former smokers, among subjects in occupational and environmental surveys. The overall result of the re-analysis confirmed the small decrease of MN frequencies in current smokers (frequency ratio (FR)=0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.93-1.01) and in former smokers (FR=0.96, 95% CI=0.91-1.01), when compared to non-smokers. MN frequency was not influenced by the number of cigarettes smoked per day among subjects occupationally exposed to genotoxic agents, whereas a typical U-shaped curve is observed for non-exposed smokers, showing a significant increase of MN frequency in individuals smoking 30 cigarettes or more per day (FR=1.59, 95% CI=1.35-1.88). This analysis confirmed that smokers do not experience an overall increase in MN frequency, although when the interaction with occupational exposure is taken into account, heavy smokers were the only group showing a significant increase in genotoxic damage as measured by the micronucleus assay in lymphocytes. From these results some general recommendations for the design of biomonitoring studies involving smokers can be formulated. Quantitative data about smoking habit should always be collected because, in the absence of such data, the simple comparison of smokers versus non-smokers could be misleading. The sub-group of heavy smokers (≥30 cigarettes per day) should be specifically evaluated whenever it is large enough to satisfy statistical requirements. The presence of an interaction between smoking habit and occupational exposure to genotoxic agents should be always tested.
KW - Human lymphocytes
KW - Micronuclei
KW - Pooled analysis
KW - Smoking habit
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0037339166&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1383-5742(03)00013-9
DO - 10.1016/S1383-5742(03)00013-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 12644185
AN - SCOPUS:0037339166
SN - 1383-5742
VL - 543
SP - 155
EP - 166
JO - Mutation Research - Reviews in Mutation Research
JF - Mutation Research - Reviews in Mutation Research
IS - 2
ER -