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Clinical Trial
. 2012;7(7):e39931.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039931. Epub 2012 Jul 2.

Dysregulation of cytokine response in Canadian First Nations communities: is there an association with persistent organic pollutant levels?

Pascal Imbeault  1 , C Scott Findlay, Michael A Robidoux, François Haman, Jules M Blais, Angelo Tremblay, Susan Springthorpe, Shinjini Pal, Tim Seabert, Eva M Krümmel, Rasha Maal-Bared, Jason A Tetro, Sunita Pandey, Syed A Sattar, Lionel G Filion
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Dysregulation of cytokine response in Canadian First Nations communities: is there an association with persistent organic pollutant levels?

Pascal Imbeault et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

In vitro and animal studies report that some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) trigger the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Whether POP exposure is associated with a dysregulation of cytokine response remains to be investigated in humans. We studied the strength of association between plasma POP levels and circulating cytokines as immune activation markers. Plasma levels of fourteen POPs and thirteen cytokines were measured in 39 Caucasians from a comparator sample in Québec City (Canada) and 72 First Nations individuals from two northern communities of Ontario (Canada). Caucasians showed significantly higher levels of organochlorine insecticides (β-HCH, p,p'-DDE and HCB) compared to First Nations. Conversely, First Nations showed higher levels of Mirex, Aroclor 1260, PCB 153, PCB 170, PCB 180 and PCB 187 compared to Caucasians. While there was no difference in cytokine levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-22 between groups, First Nations had significantly greater average levels of IFNγ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-5, IL-8, IL-12p70, IL-17A, TNFα and TNFβ levels compared to Caucasians. Among candidate predictor variables (age, body mass index, insulin resistance and POP levels), high levels of PCBs were the only predictor accounting for a small but significant effect of observed variance (∼7%) in cytokine levels. Overall, a weak but significant association is detected between persistent organochlorine pollutant exposure and elevated cytokine levels. This finding augments the already existing information that environmental pollution is related to inflammation, a common feature of several metabolic disorders that are known to be especially prevalent in Canada's remote First Nations communities.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have the following conflicts: Co-author Lionel G. Filion is a PLoS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Plasma persistent organic pollutant levels (in µg/l) of Caucasians from the southern province of Québec (Canada) and First Nations from northern remote communities of Ontario (Canada).
Significant difference between groups at * p<0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Plasma cytokine levels of Caucasians from the southern province of Québec (Canada) and First Nations from northern remote communities of Ontario (Canada).
Significant difference between groups at * p<0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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