Lupus cluster at oilfield points finger at pollution

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Lupus cluster at oilfield points finger at pollution

* 11 May 2007

* NewScientist.com news service

* Aria Pearson

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg19426034.000-lupus-cluster-at-oilf\

ield-points-finger-at-pollution.html

An alarmingly high number of people living in houses built on top of a

disused oilfield in New Mexico have been diagnosed with the autoimmune

disease lupus. It is the latest in a growing number of lupus clusters near

polluted areas, and points towards the environmental triggers for this

complex disease.

When someone has lupus their immune system turns against them, attacking

their own tissues, which can lead to joint pain, organ failure and even

death. In the US, it is much more common in women and minority groups,

especially African Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, estimates that the incidence of the

disease has tripled in the past 40 years.

Pollutants seem to be the cause of lupus in people on a housing

development in Hobbs, New Mexico, built in 1976 on land that was an active

oilfield until the late 1960s. The community noticed an unusually high

rate of lupus and contacted Dahlgren, an environmental toxicologist

at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dahlgren and his colleagues compared the prevalence of lupus in the Hobbs

development to its prevalence in the general population and found that the

rate of lupus in the Hobbs population was 30 to 99 times higher than

estimates for the general population. " The rate is astronomically high, "

says Dahlgren. " It's a true cluster. " All the cases in Hobbs occurred in

several blocks of houses built on top of a waste pit.

The researchers found that levels of mercury and a petroleum hydrocarbon

called pristane were higher in the Hobbs community, especially near the

waste pit, than in a control neighbourhood about 200 kilometres away. Both

of these pollutants are known to cause lupus in animals. Pristane was also

found in greater amounts in the blood of people living in the exposed

area. The study did not test for levels of mercury in their blood

(Environmental Health, DOI: 0.1186/1476-069X-6-8).

Previous studies have shown a connection between mercury and lupus in

people, but this is a first for pristane, an environmental pollutant that

also occurs naturally in mineral oil and shark oil.

Other clusters of lupus have been documented in people exposed to

industrial emissions, solvents and pesticides for a long time. A study

under way in Buffalo, New York, has recorded 92 cases of lupus in an area

near a lead-smelting plant that closed in the 1980s. Lead, mercury and

arsenic are among the pollutants found at the site, says Edith , a

project coordinator for the study.

To pin down the pollutants that cause lupus, we need to know how genes

that predispose someone to lupus interact with the environment, says

Dahlgren.

Many mutations have been linked to lupus, especially those in immune

system genes. Gilkeson of the Medical University of South Carolina in

ton says there are probably 40 to 50 different genes involved, many

of which could affect how a person deals with pollutants. " Once the genes

are figured out, it will be easier to track down the environmental

factors, " he says.

From issue 2603 of New Scientist magazine, 11 May 2007, page 9

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