Safia Beshir^*, Hisham Aziz, Weam Shaheen, Eman Eltahlawy

National Research Centre, Environmental and Occupational Medicine Department, Cairo, Egypt

 

BACKGROUND: Silicosis is the most frequently occurring pneumoconiosis.

AIM: Measurement of serum levels of Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), Copper (Cu) and Ceruloplasmin (Cp) in cement workers occupationally exposed to silica dust as biomarkers of exposure rather than biomarkers of effect for silicosis.

METHODS: Plain chest X-ray & pulmonary functions were done for 30 silicotic and 42 non-silicotic workers and 42 controls. CT scan was done for the exposed groups. Serum levels of Cu, Cp and ACE were estimated.

RESULTS: The results showed a higher significant difference between the exposed groups and controls, and between the two exposed groups regarding the mean levels of all measured biochemical parameters. The pulmonary functions were significantly lower among silicotic workers than controls and non-silicotic groups. There was a significant positive correlation between duration of employment and serum ACE and Cu.

CONCLUSION: Since respirable dust exposure-linked lung fibrosis disease is non-curable, the biochemical parameters (Cu, ACE and Cp) can be used as exposure biomarkers to silica dust, providing a better way for early diagnosis of this deadly disease. Down regulating the inflammatory responses could potentially reduce the adverse clinical pulmonary effects of air pollution.

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Citation: Beshir S, Aziz H, Shaheen W, Eltahlawy E. Serum Levels of Copper, Ceruloplasmin and Angiotensin Converting Enzyme among Silicotic and Non-Silicotic Workers. OA Maced J Med Sci. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2015.066
Key words: Serum copper; ceruloplasmin; ACE; silicosis.
*Correspondence: Dr. Safia Beshir. National Research Center, Environmental & Occupational Department, 33 EL Bohouth st. (former EL Tahrir st.), Dokki, Giza, Cairo P.O. 12622, Egypt. E-Mail: safiabeshir123@yahoo.com
Received: 12-May-2015; Revised: 01-Jun-2015; Accepted: 03-Jun-2015; Online first: 16-Jun-2015
Copyright: © 2015 Safia Beshir, Hisham Aziz, Weam Shaheen, Eman Eltahlawy. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
 

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