Changes in methylation pattern among workers exposed to low doses of benzene

Aberrant DNA methylation is a common finding in AML and other cancer tissues. We investigated for the first time whether such epigenetic changes are induced by low-level exposure to benzene, a widespread pollutant related to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) risk, in peripheral blood DNA of 78 gasoline station attendants (median personal airborne benzene, MPAB=61 µg/m3; range 11-478 µg/m3), 77 traffic police officers (MPAB=22 µg/m3; range 9-316 µg/m3), and 58 referents (MPAB=6 µg/m3; range 0.20). CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose exposure to benzene, and possibly other AML carcinogens, may induce DNA methylation changes in healthy subjects that reproduce the altered epigenetic patterns found in malignant cells