Formaldehyde Exposure and Leukemia Risk: a Comprehensive Review and Network-based Toxicogenomic Approach

Overview

Journal Genes Environ

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2021 Apr 13

PMID 33845901

Citations 13

Authors

Doo Seok Kang

Hyun Soo Kim

Jong-Hyeon Jung

Cheol Min Lee

Yeon-Soon Ahn

Young Rok Seo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Formaldehyde is a widely used but highly reactive and toxic chemical. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies formaldehyde as a Group 1 carcinogen, based on nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia studies. However, the correlation between formaldehyde exposure and leukemia incidence is a controversial issue. To understand the association between formaldehyde exposure and leukemia, we explored biological networks based on formaldehyde-related genes retrieved from public and commercial databases. Through the literature-based network approach, we summarized qualitative associations between formaldehyde exposure and leukemia. Our results indicate that oxidative stress-mediated genetic changes induced by formaldehyde could disturb the hematopoietic system, possibly leading to leukemia. Furthermore, we suggested major genes that are thought to be affected by formaldehyde exposure and associated with leukemia development. Our suggestions can be used to complement experimental data for understanding and identifying the leukemogenic mechanism of formaldehyde.

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