Lung cancer risk assessment of human exposure to PAHs by urinary 1-hydroxypyrene

1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-Py) is often taken as a biomarker of human exposure to PAHs, but so far it hasn't been used to PAHs related cancer risk assessment. In this study, 100 non-smoking adults were selected as volunteer subjects. The 24 h personal air samples and urine samples of each subject were collected and analyzed. Quantitative relationships between the concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-Py) in human urine and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), pyrene (Py) and other 14 kinds of PAHs in inhalation samples were established. The model for predicting lung cancer risk of human inhalation exposure to PAHs by urinary 1-OH-Py was then developed based on the current dose-response relationship model between lung cancer risk mortality and BaP air concentration. Lung cancer risk was about 11 × 10-5 for general group and 160 × 10-5 for coke oven workers. If BaP equivalent toxicity of all the 14 PAHs were considered, the lung cancer risk for each group could be 0.5 time higher. Biological exposure limit (BEL) of urinary 1-OH-Py is 0.11 μmol/mol creatinine for non-smoking general group and 1.90 μmol/mol creatinine for coke oven workers.

Duke Scholars

Author Junfeng Zhang Environmental Sciences and Policy