The duration of labor activity of workers in the production of phthalic anhydride and the imbalance of cellular immunity indicators

Abstract

Introduction. The phthalic anhydride, which widely used in chemical industry in conditions of chronic ingestion, chronically leads to a disadaptation of immunity, which is a risk factor in the formation of associated production related pathology. The aim of the work is to study the subpopulation profile of lymphocytes and cytokine status in workers engaged in the production of phthalic anhydride with their work experience. Materials and methods. The observation group, totally 68 men, consisted of employees working at the main phthalic anhydride production facility. The workers of the observation group were divided into two subgroups with their work experience at the enterprise: 44 persons with 0 to 10 years of work experience and 24 persons with more than 10 years of work experience. The comparison group - 40 men who had no professional contact with harmful production factors. The chemical-analytical, cytofluorimetric, immunoenzyme methods use during the study. Results. The workers being exposed to phthalic anhydride with up to 10 and more than 10 years of work experience at the enterprise have a phthalic acid content in their blood that is 2.3 and 3.3 times higher, respectively than related to persons who are not in contact with the analyzed harmful production factor (p=0.002-0.033). It was found that longtime workers, engaged in the production of phthalic anhydride, manifested the immune response cellular link dysfunction. Workers employed in the main production of phthalic anhydride with more than 10 years of work experience revealed a prevalence of activation processes (according to CD25+ criterion), inhibition of cytotoxic cell-mediated response (according to CD3+CD16+CD56+ criterion), gyperexpression of Th2-cytokines (according to criterion IL4) relative to values obtained from workers of the production with less than 10 years of work experience in hazardous production conditions (p=0.002-0.033). Conclusions. The duration of employment of the workers, contacting with excessive concentrations of phthalic anhydride in workplace air, contributes to negative dynamics in the imbalance between T-cells and cytokine products. The dynamic monitoring of immunoregulatory indicators in workers occupied in the production of phthalic anhydride will contribute to just-in-time revealing of the immune system violations in order to reduce the risks of formation of associated production-related pathology induced by the chemical production factors.