Mortality after exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans: 30 years after the “Yucheng Accident”

Abstract

BACKGROUND In 1979, approximately 2,000 people in central Taiwan were accidentally exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans due to ingestion of contaminated cooking oil. This event was called Yucheng, “oil-syndrome” in Chinese. We followed the exposed persons and compared their cause-specific mortality with that of neighborhood referents 30 years after the accident. METHODS We obtained age- and gender-matched referents from the 1979 neighborhoods of the exposed people. Cause-specific mortality was compared between exposed subjects (N=1803) and their neighborhood referents (N=5170) using standardized mortality ratios (SMR). Total person-years for the Yucheng subjects and neighborhood referents were 48,751 and 141,774, respectively. RESULTS The SMR for all causes (SMR=1.2, 95% CI: 1.1–1.3), diseases of the circulatory system (SMR=1.3, 95% CI: 1.0–1.6), and diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (SMR=6.4, 95% CI: 2.8–12.7) were elevated in Yucheng subjects. Among Yucheng males, the SMRs for diseases of the digestive system (SMR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.2–2.8), malignant neoplasm of stomach (SMR=3.5, 95% CI: 1.5–7.0), and malignant neoplasm of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue (SMR=3.0, 95% CI: 1.1–6.6) were increased. The SMR for total neoplasms was increased (SMR=1.3, 95% CI: 0.9–1.7). CONCLUSION We conclude that exposure to PCBs/PCDFs at levels that produced symptoms in many affects mortality patterns 3 decades after exposure.

Polychlorinated biphenyls disrupt hepatic epidermal growth factor receptor signaling

“…Akt and mTOR are effector kinases downstream of EGFR that regulate lipid metabolism, and glycogen synthesis (Caron and others 2015; Taniguchi and others 2006). Decreased EGFR signaling has been implicated in metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes (Bernal-Mizrachi and others 2014; Miettinen and others 2008) and NASH (Collin de l’Hortet and others 2014; Deaciuc and others 2002; Komposch and Sibilia 2016; Scheving and others 2014; Scheving and others 2015), both of which have been associated with PCB exposures (Cave and others 2010; Li and others 2013; Taylor and others 2013; Wahlang and others 2016; Wahlang and others 2014b; Yu and others 1997). Thus, we hypothesised that if PCBs antagonised EGFR like phenobarbital, this mechanism could account for both indirect CAR activation and the associated ‘off target’ effects contributing to PCB-related NASH.…”

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl-153 decreases incidence of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice

“…In regards to T1D, epidemiology studies have provided inconclusive data, suggesting positive (Longnecker & Daniels 2001) as well as negative (Li et al 2013) associations between PCBs and ''T1D'', without adequately characterizing the type of diabetes. Even when a higher frequency of T1D-associated autoantibodies (anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies) was found in PCB-exposed workers (Langer et al 2002), conclusions about effects of PCB on T1D development could not be drawn since the incidence of disease was not studied.…”

“…Considering PCBs, and specifically PCB-153, besides conflicting data provided by a few epidemiological studies (Longnecker & Daniels 2001;Langer et al 2002;Rignell-Hydbom et al 2010;Li et al 2013), there has been no study that directly investigated the association between PCB-153 exposure and development of T1D in an experimental animal model. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate effects of PCB-153 exposure on T1D development in an NOD mouse model.…”

Yusho and its latest findings—A review in studies conducted by the Yusho Group

“…A 30-year mortality study of the Yucheng cohort (Li et al, 2013) described that among Yucheng males, the standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (SMR = 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5-3.9), acute myocardial infarction (SMR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.6-6.4), other forms of heart disease (SMR = 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2-3.8), malignant neoplasm of the stomach (SMR = 3.5, 95% CI: 1.5-7.0) and malignant neoplasm of lymphatic and haematopoietic tissue (SMR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.1-6.6) were increased. Among Yucheng females, the SMRs for diseases of the circulatory system (SMR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0-2.1), musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (SMR = 16.5, 95% CI: 6.7-34.3), especially, the relative mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus was very high (5 in Yucheng females, 0 in neighbourhood referents).…”