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Can Plastics Trigger Lupus?

Ubiquitous Compounds Trigger Lupus in Mice

By DeNoon

WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

on Friday, July 15, 2005

July 15, 2005 - A family of chemicals used to make toys, polyesters,

and cosmetics triggers lupuslupus in mice bred to develop the

autoimmune disease, research shows.

The chemicals, called phthalates, don't cause lupus in normal mice. And

it's not at all clear that the mouse findings are relevant to humans.

Even so, the study raises questions about the link between the

ubiquitous compounds and autoimmune disease,autoimmune disease, says

researcher Swapan K. Ghosh, PhD, professor and interim chair of life

sciences at Indiana State University.

In some autoimmune diseases, the immune system makes antibodies that

attack the body's own cells. These are called anti-self antibodies.

Mouse antibodies against phthalates, Ghosh found, are nearly identical

to certain anti-self antibodies.

" We found out the antibody to phthalate is 98% the same as the

anti-self antibody found in mouse lupus, " Ghosh tells WebMD. " Then we

started a more vigorous investigation to find out why not every strain

of mouse gets disease. And we found it is genetic susceptibility. "

Mouse Exposure Not Same as Human Exposure

To raise antiphthalate antibodies in mice, Ghosh injected the animals

with several potent doses of phthalates to boost antibody reactions.

In their report, published in the current issue of the Journal of

Autoimmunity, Gosh and colleague So-Yon Lim, PhD, report that all

commonly used types of phthalates are harmful to susceptible strains of

mice. Normal mice, however, soon block the antiphthalate antibodies and

suffer no ill effects.

Ghosh is quick to point out that the doses of phthalates given to mice

in this study have no relation to human exposure to the phthalate

compounds that leach into the environment from plastics, cosmetics,

dyes, flexible PVC products, artificial leather, adhesives, and many

other products.

While noting that the study has no direct relevance to humans, the

findings are quite interesting, says lupus expert Anolik, MD,

PhD, assistant professor of medicine and an investigator at the

autoimmunity center of excellence at the University of Rochester in New

York.

" In autoimmune diseases and in lupus, we know there are strong genetic

and environmental influences -- but we do not know what the

environmental factors are, " Anolik tells WebMD. " Because that is such

an unknown, it makes this paper interesting. There might be chemical

exposures in the susceptible individual that might contribute to

autoimmunity. "

WebMD asked the phthalate esters panel of the American Chemical Council

-- an industry group that includes many major phthalate manufacturers

-- to comment. The panel was unable to comment before publication.

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/108/109045.htm