Abstract
BackgroundAgriculture workers are exposed to microbial component- and particulate matter-enriched organic dust aerosols. Whereas it is clear that exposure to these aerosols can lead to lung inflammation, it is not known how inflammatory responses are resolved in some individuals while others develop chronic lung disease. Interleukin (IL)-10 is an immunomodulatory cytokine that is recognized as a potent anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving factor. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship of systemic IL-10 and proinflammatory responses and/or respiratory health effects in humans with prior agriculture exposure.MethodsThis is a cross sectional study of 625 veterans with > 2 years of farming experience. Whole blood was stimulated with or without organic dust and measured for IL-6, TNFα and IL-10. Participants underwent spirometry and respiratory symptoms were assessed by questionnaire.ResultsWe found that baseline IL-10 concentration from the whole blood assay was inversely associated with ΔTNF-α (r = − 0.63) and ΔIL-6 (r = − 0.37) levels. Results remained highly significant in the linear regression model after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, race, education, smoking status, and white blood cell count (ΔTNF-α, p < 0.0001; ΔIL-6, p < 0.0001). We found no association between chronic cough (p = 0.18), chronic phlegm (p = 0.31) and chronic bronchitis (p = 0.06) and baseline IL-10 levels using univariate logistic regression models. However, we did find that higher FEV1/FVC was significantly associated with increased baseline IL-10 concentration.ConclusionsCollectively, these studies support a potential role for IL-10 in modulating an inflammatory response and lung function in agriculture-exposed persons.
Highlights
Agriculture workers are exposed to microbial component- and particulate matter-enriched organic dust aerosols
We found that baseline IL-10 concentration was inversely associated with ΔTNF-α and ΔIL-6 levels (Fig. 1)
Results remained highly significant in the linear regression model even after adjusting for age, sex, Body mass index (BMI), race, education, smoking status, and white blood cell count (ΔTNF-α, p < 0.0001; ΔIL-6, p < 0.0001)
Summary
Agriculture workers are exposed to microbial component- and particulate matter-enriched organic dust aerosols. Organic dust in the agricultural environment is enriched in an abundance and diversity of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial components and particulate matter [11,12,13] Chronic inhalation of these complex dusts can result in adverse respiratory health consequences including asthma, chronic bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [14]. It has been shown that rodents repetitively exposed to organic dust extracts display a Th1/Th17 microenvironment and influx of exudative/activated macrophages [19, 20] This is important because IL-10 is a recognized inhibitor of Th17 and activated macrophage responses, in a cytokine milieu rich in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α [4]
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