Abstract
Cardiovascular disease is known to be associated with proximity to major roadways and highways. Thus, blood samples from 20 near highway and 20 urban background residents were analyzed for presence of cytokines and other biomarkers. Near-highway participants displayed significantly lower socioeconomic status (SES) and significantly higher occupational vehicle exhaust exposure and higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. Controlling for exposure to vehicle exhaust on the job, interleukin-6 (IL-6) was numerically higher in near highway participants. Using logistic regression analyses, IL-1β was significantly elevated near highway. It is interesting that elevations were found in IL-1β, a key cytokine linked to inflammation from particulate matter (PM). More studies are needed with larger sample sizes to assess the possible role of IL-1β.
Acknowledgments
We thank the members of the CAFEH Steering Committee, Ellin Reisner, John Durant, Baolian Kuang, Lydia Lowe, Edna Carrasco, M. Barton Laws, Yuping Zeng, Emmanuel Owusu, Christina Hemphill Fuller, Mae Fripp, Tina Wang, Michelle Liang, and Mario Davia, for their contributions to the project. Aaron Marden selected participants from the larger data set for use in this analysis. Funding for CAFEH was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES015462). Support for Kevin Lane was provided by an EPA STAR Fellowship (FP-917349-01-0). The project described was also supported by the National Center for Research Resources, grant UL1 RR025752, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant UL1 TR000073. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.