Cytokine profile in children exposed to chloroform and vanadium

Abstract

Introduction. Pollution of drinking water and atmospheric air by anthropogenic haptens forms an imbalance of adaptive capacities of the immune system in children. The purpose of the work is to identify the features of the cytokine profile in children exposed to vanadium and chlorine-containing compounds (for example, chloroform). Materials and methods. We examined 283 children who live in conditions of chronic low-level peroral exposure to drinking water hyperchlorinated products. The control was a contingent of 224 children consuming drinking water of chloroform of adequate quality. We also examined 215 children living in conditions of chronic aerogenic low-level exposure to vanadium, the control being a contingent of 131 children living in the territory of conditional sanitary and hygienic well-being without any stationary sources of vanadium contamination of the atmospheric air. Chemical-analytical and immunoenzymometric methods were used in the study. Results. In children living under chronic oral exposure to drinking water hyperchlorination products, chloroform was identified in the blood, which normally should not be detected. In children living in an area with elevated levels of aerogenic vanadium load, the vanadium content in the blood was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001) 4.4 times higher than the upper limit of the reference interval. We have established that under conditions of blood contamination with chloroform Th2-shift of cytokine profile occurs - concentration cytokines IL4, IL6 increases statistically significantly, frequency of excess was 2.2 and 4.3 times in comparison with the values obtained in unexposed children ( p ≤ 0,001-0,031); under conditions of contamination of biological media with vanadium, a decrease in Th1 cytokine production was observed - the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine TNFα was statistically significantly depressed, the multiple of the decrease was 2.2 times as compared to the results obtained in children not exposed to vanadium ( p = 0.032). Conclusions. The presented results show the contamination of chloroform and vanadium to cause a multidirectional nature of changes in the cytokine profile of serum in exposed children with technogenic gaptenes, forming in the future various mechanisms of deterioration of immune response: activation of humoral (Th2-dependent), associated with chloroform contamination or cell suppression (Th1-dependent), associated with excess contamination of vanadium.