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Low serum indium levels induce expression disorders of some inflammatory factors

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Abstract

Objectives

It has been reported that occupational exposure to indium compounds, including indium-tin oxide, can induce pulmonary inflammation resulting in serious indium lung disease. However, whether there is an early effect of indium exposure on inflammatory factor expression remains unclear.

Methods

Twenty indium-tin oxide processing workers and 15 healthy volunteers were recruited to measure serum indium levels, respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, and serum inflammatory factor levels.

Results

Although low serum indium was detected in workers, lung abnormalities were not increased, compared with healthy population. However, serum G-CSF, IL-4, IL-5, TNF-alpha, and TNF-beta levels were significantly increased, while IL-16 and TIMP-1 were obviously down-regulated in indium-tin oxide processing workers. These inflammatory factor levels showed a significant correlation with serum indium levels.

Conclusions

Basing on our findings, we speculate that low serum indium levels may induce inflammatory responses, which may be an adaptive response or may cause lung diseases. Therefore, further experiments or follow-up is needed. However, better safeguard procedures and indium exposure reduction should be considered in ITO industry.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the participants, occupational physicians.

Funding

This study was financed by Natural Science Foundation of China (81473014) and Basic Research Project of Shenzhen Science and Technology Plan (JCY20150403094740974).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Bao’an District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 3, Haixiu Road, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, 518053, China

    Jianping Yang

  2. Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, No. 601, Huangpu Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Wenjuan Zhang

  3. Occupational Health Department, Bao’an Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 3# Haixiu Road, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, China

    Jing Feng

Authors
  1. Jianping Yang
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  2. Wenjuan Zhang
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  3. Jing Feng
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Y-JP. Performed the experiments: Y-JP, Z-WJ, and F-J. Analyzed the data: Y-JP and Z-WJ. Wrote the paper: Y-JP. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianping Yang or Wenjuan Zhang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Institution and ethics approval and informed consent

This study was performed in Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University. Written informed consent was obtained from each patient enrolled in this study.

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Cite this article

Yang, J., Zhang, W. & Feng, J. Low serum indium levels induce expression disorders of some inflammatory factors. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94, 23–30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01553-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01553-2

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