Objective: To investigate the association between polymorphisms of DNA repair gene XRCC1 and DNA damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes among workers exposed to formaldehyde.
Methods: One hundred and fifty-one workers exposed to formaldehyde from plywood factories and one hundred and twelve workers without occupational exposure to formaldehyde were recruited into this study. DNA damage levels were measured by comet assay. The polymorphisms of XRCC1 gene were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) with restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP) method. The multiple covariance analysis was used to compare olive trail moment and comet trail length adjusted confounding factors.
Results: In formaldehyde exposed workers, after ages, smoking and drinking status and occupational exposure level were adjusted, means of Olive trail moment and comet trail length in the subjects with variant genotype at Arg280 His site (geometric means 4.30 and 13.42 respectively) were higher than subjects with wild type homozygote (geometric means 3.38 and 11.71 respectively), the differences were significant (Olive trail moment: P < 0.05, comet trail length: P < 0.01) . No associations between the polymorphisms at other three sites in XRCC1 gene and means of olive trail moment and comet trail length in exposure workers were found.
Conclusion: The polymorphisms of XRCC1 gene may modulate the effects of DNA damages induced by formaldehyde in workers.