High-Resolution Metabolomics Study Of Occupational Exposure To Trichloroethylene

Introduction: Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a common water contaminant and continues to be used in the workplaces of many developing countries. It causes kidney cancer and possibly non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer. However, the underlying pathophysiology of TCE-induced cancer is not well understood. To evaluate biological responses to TCE, we conducted a cross-sectional molecular epidemiology study of workers exposed to TCE and unexposed controls and applied non-targeted metabolomics analysis.Methods: We studied 80 healthy workers that used TCE and 95 comparable unexposed controls in Guangdong, China. The TCE-exposed workers had a median 8-hour time weighted average personal air exposure of 12 ppm (range: 0.4 to 230 ppm), with almost all workers having exposure under the current U.S. OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit of 100 ppm. Metabolomics analysis of plasma samples …