论文部分内容阅读
Guiyu, located in Guangdong, China, is the largest electronic waste site on earth.Lead is a ubiquitous pollutant in the environment of Guiyu and poses serious threats to immune system in human being.In the past 20 years, increasing attention has been paid to the effects of lead exposure on health.Hepatitis B vaccine, which contains hepatitis surface antigen, was developed for the prevention of hepatitis B virus infection.Hepatitis B vaccination is a mandatory vaccination for newborn in China.To study the immunological effect of lead exposure on formation of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBS-Ab) in preschool children, we examined the blood lead levels, B lymphocyte subset with HBS-Ab titer of individuals.We recruited 154 of 3~6 years old children from Guiyu as lead exposed group and 136 unexposed healthy children from Haojiang as control for comparison.Our results indicate that the blood lead levels were significantly higher in lead exposed individuals than in control individuals.Although B lymphocyte subset was higher in exposed group than in control group, the HBS-Ab titer was found to be significantly lower.We also observed a significant negative correlation between blood lead levels and HBS-Ab titer in lead exposed individuals.In conclusion, this study demonstrates that lead exposure can influence the immune response to hepatitis B vaccine.