Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Sep;59(9):788-94.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.22643.

Biomarkers of patient intrinsic risk for upper and lower airway injury after exposure to the World Trade Center atrocity

Rachel Zeig-Owens  1   2 , Anna Nolan  1   3 , Barbara Putman  4 , Ankura Singh  1   2 , David J Prezant  1   5 , Michael D Weiden  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Biomarkers of patient intrinsic risk for upper and lower airway injury after exposure to the World Trade Center atrocity

Rachel Zeig-Owens et al. Am J Ind Med. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Background: High rates of upper and lower airways disease have occurred in Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) workers exposed to the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster site. Most experienced acute declines in pulmonary function, and some continued to experience decline over 14 years of follow-up. Similarly, some with rhinosinusitis had symptoms requiring sinus surgery.

Aim: To increase generalizability of biomarker investigation, we describe biomarkers of risk for upper and lower airway injury that do not require stored serum.

Methods: We review WTC biomarker literature.

Results: Cytokines expressed in stored serum from the first 6 months post-9/11 can identify individuals at higher risk for future abnormal pulmonary function.

Conclusion: This research will help identify individuals at high risk of lung and sinus disease that develop after these, or future, irritant exposures for intensive monitoring and treatment. It may also identify targets for effective therapeutic interventions. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:788-794, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: World Trade Center; airways disease; lung injury; predictive biomarkers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

DISCLOSURE (AUTHORS)

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Blood eosinophil concentration in firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center site during the First 2 Weeks after 9/11 is associated with sinus surgery. The graph is from Kwon et al. [2016] and represents the median eosinophil concentrations from March 10, 2000 to March 10, 2015, in 18-month intervals. The blue dots show data for Fire Department of New York City Firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center site during the first 2 weeks after the attack of September 11, 2001 (9/11) and who had eosinophil measurement between September 11, 2001 and March 10, 2003. The red triangles show data from the group who had surgical treatment for CRS by the end of the study. The number of measurements contributing to the values in each interval are shown below each data point. The top row of values show in red represents the number of eosinophil measurements in the surgical-CRS group. The bottom row of values show in blue represents the number of eosinophil measurements in the study cohort.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Akdis CA, Bachert C, Cingi C, Dykewicz MS, Hellings PW, Naclerio RM, Schleimer RP, Ledford D. Endotypes and phenotypes of chronic rhinosinusitis: A PRACTALL document of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013;131:1479–1490. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aldrich TK, Gustave J, Hall CB, Cohen HW, Webber MP, Zeig-Owens R, Cosenza K, Christodoulou V, Glass L, Al-Othman F, et al. Lung function in rescue workers at the World Trade Center after 7 years. New Engl J Med. 2010;362:1263–1272. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aldrich TK, Vossbrinck M, Zeig-Owens R, Hall CB, Schwartz TM, Moir W, Webber MP, Cohen HW, Nolan A, Weiden MD, et al. Lung function trajectories in WTC-exposed NYC Firefighters over 13 years: The roles of smoking and smoking cessation. Chest. 2016;149:1419–1427. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banauch GI, Brantly M, Izbicki G, Hall C, Shanske A, Chavko R, Santhyadka G, Christodoulou V, Weiden MD, Prezant DJ. Accelerated spirometric decline in New York City firefighters with alpha(1)-antitrypsin deficiency. Chest. 2010;138:1116–1124. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Caplan-Shaw CE, Yee H, Rogers L, Abraham JL, Parsia SS, Naidich DP, Borczuk A, Moreira A, Shiau MC, Ko JP, et al. Lung pathologic findings in a local residential and working community exposed to World Trade Center dust, gas, and fumes. J Occup Environ Med. 2011;53:981–991. - PubMed

Publication types