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MOUSE SKIN TUMORIGENICITY STUDIES OF INDOOR COAL AND WOOD COMBUSTION EMISSIONS FROM HOMES OF RESIDENTS IN XUAN WEI, CHINA WITH HIGH LUNG CANCER MORTALITY
Citation:
Mumford, J., J. Seidenberg, X. Lee, C. Helmes, AND S. Nesnow. MOUSE SKIN TUMORIGENICITY STUDIES OF INDOOR COAL AND WOOD COMBUSTION EMISSIONS FROM HOMES OF RESIDENTS IN XUAN WEI, CHINA WITH HIGH LUNG CANCER MORTALITY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/045 (NTIS PB90217506).
Description:
The rural Xuan Wei County, Yunnan Province, China, has an unusually high lung cancer mortality rate that cannot be attributed to tobacco smoke or occupational exposure. he lung cancer rate is associated with "smoky" coal, in contrast to wood or "smokeless" coal burned in unventilated homes. his study was conducted to characterize and compare mouse skin tumorigenicity of the coal and the wood combustion emissions and to link the resulting animal data to human lung cancer. ndoor air particles were collected from a central commune where the lung cancer mortality rate is high and smoky coal is the major fuel used, and also from a south western commune where lung cancer mortality rate is low and wood and smokeless coal are the major fuels used. he organic extracts of these indoor air particles were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) an assayed for skin tumor initiation activity and complete carcinogenicity in SENCAR mice. ouse skin was initiated with 1,2,5,10, and 20 mg of organic extracts of the emission particles during the first week, and one week after initiation the mice were promoted with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate [TPA, 2 ug/mouse] applied topically twice a week for 26 weeks. he results showed that the smoky coal sample is the most active among the three combustion emission samples. ice were held for further observation for an additional 25 weeks after treatment. he smoky coal sample was shown to be a potent complete carcinogen, whereas the wood sample was relatively inactive as a complete carcinogen. ighty-eight percent of the mice treated with the smoky coal sample showed carcinomas, averaging 1.1 carcinomas per tumor-bearing mouse at the end of the 77-week study. he higher tumorigenicity from the emission particles of the smoky coal combustion were in agreement with the epidemiolgical data, which showed that the Xuan Wei residents using smoky coal as a major fuel in homes had a high lung cancer mortality rate. his study demonstrates that the results of the short-term tumorigenicity assays in mice were in agreement with human lung cancer data.