Exposure to airborne nickel and phenol and features of the immune response mediated by E and G immunoglobulins

Ambient air pollution with potentially allergenic technogenic haptens facilitates occurrence of atopic reactions and creates favorable conditions for future development of allergic pathologies in exposed population. The aim of this study was to estimate formation of an IgE-mediated and IgG-mediated specific immune response to low-molecular chemical compounds introduced into the body by inhalation (nickel and phenol used as examples). The test groups were made of children (n = 99) and adults (n = 57) who lived under exposure to airborne nickel and phenol in levels not exceeding maximum permissible ones (up to 0.7 MPL). The reference groups included children (n = 95) and adults (n = 53) who lived on a conventionally clean territory. In the test groups, average daily exposure doses of airborne nickel and phenol varied between 0.7·10-6 and 9.3·10-6 mg/(kg·day) for children and between 3.5·10-6 and 5.0·10-5 mg/(kg·day) for adults (the doses were created by emissions from a non-ferrous metallurgy plant); this was 1.5-3.0 times higher than the same indicators in the reference groups. Levels of IgG specific to nickel were more than two times higher in the exposed groups; the exposed children had elevated levels of IgG specific to phenol in their blood, practically three times higher than in the reference group (р 2 = 0.87; F = 468.58; р function show_eabstract() { $('#eabstract1').hide(); $('#eabstract2').show(); $('#eabstract_expand').hide(); }