Cancer incidence in the vicinity of a waste incineration plant in the Nice area between 2005-2014

Introduction

Few studies on cancer incidence have been conducted since the EU 2000/76/EC Waste incineration directive.

Objective

To measure cancer incidence among the population exposed to atmospheric emissions from the Ariane waste incineration plant near Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes (AM), compared to the unexposed AM population.

Methods

All primary invasive cancers and malignant haematological conditions diagnosed among AM residents from 01/01/2005 to 31/12/2014 recorded by the CRISAPPACA Cancer Observatory, public and private hospitals and the ONCOPACA-Corsica Network were included. The exposed area, based on an average dioxin deposition model, was that with a concentration ≥4.25ng/m2/year. Each case was geolocated and assigned to a predefined geographic unit (IRIS): 36 units in the exposed area, 462 in the unexposed area. The adjusted incidence rate, the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and the Comparative Morbidity Figure (CMF) were calculated for two periods: 2005-2009/2010-2014.

Results

We recorded 80,865 new cancers in the AM population (1,083,974 residents; 87,462 exposed). For the 2005-2009 period, among exposed women, excess SIR were recorded of acute myeloid leukaemia (SIR = 1.81 [1.03-2.93]), myelodysplastic syndromes (SIR = 2.58 [1.70-3.76]) and myeloma (SIR = 1.64 [1.09-2.37]); in exposed men, of soft tissue sarcomas (SIR = 1.65 [1.05-2, 48]), myeloma (SIR = 2.04 [1.39-2.90]) and lung cancer (SIR = 1.19 [1.03-1.36]). For the 2010-2014 period, there was no excess SIR among women, while among men an excess SIR of myeloma (SIR = 1.76 [1.21-2.47]) and lung cancer (SIR = 1.24 [1.08-1.41]) was observed.

Conclusions

The higher incidence of myeloma and lung cancer in both periods can be explained by their long latency and by other risk factors. The EU Directive appears to have resulted in limiting atmospheric emissions from the incinerator.

Study funded by the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis and with the support of the South-PACA Regional Health Agency.

Key messages

Few studies on cancer incidence have been conducted since the EU 2000/76/EC Waste incineration directive. The EU Directive appears to have resulted in limiting atmospheric emissions from the incinerator.

[Diagnosis of IgG4-related systemic disease in a patient with an ocular tumor associated with lung nodules]

The IgG4-related systemic disease is a recently described entity of fibro-inflammatory systemic damage. Although initially described in some forms of pancreatitis, the disease can affect all organs. The common histological features include a lymphoplasmacytic infiltration (especially to IgG4), fibrosis and phlebitis. Elevated serum level of IgG4 is also often present. This rare but certainly underdiagnosed disease must be kept in mind of all clinician faced to a non-specific inflammatory lesion. We report a case of ocular inflammation and lung tumors in a patient of 84 years for which the diagnosis was made through immunolabelling with IgG4 in lesions biopsied.

The transcription factor Sox2 is required for osteoblast self-renewal

The development and maintenance of most tissues and organs requires the presence of multipotent and unipotent stem cells that have the ability of self-renewal as well as of generating committed, further differentiated cell types. The transcription factor Sox2 is essential for embryonic development and maintains pluripotency and self-renewal in embryonic stem cells. It is expressed in immature osteoblasts/osteoprogenitors in vitro and in vivo and is induced by FGF signaling, which stimulates osteoblast proliferation and inhibits differentiation. Sox2 overexpression can by itself inhibit osteoblast differentiation. To elucidate its role in the osteoblastic lineage, we generated mice with an osteoblast-specific, Cre-mediated knockout of Sox2. These mice are small and osteopenic, and mosaic for Sox2 inactivation. However, culturing calvarial osteoblasts from the mutant mice for 2-3 passages failed to yield any Sox2 null cells. Inactivation of the Sox2 gene by Cre-mediated excision in cultured osteoblasts showed that Sox2 null cells could not survive repeated passage in culture, could not form colonies, and arrested their growth with a senescent phenotype. Additionally, expression of Sox2 specific shRNAs in independent osteoblastic cell lines suppressed their proliferative ability. Osteoblasts capable of forming “osteospheres” are greatly enriched in Sox2 expression. These data identify a novel role for Sox2 in the maintenance of self-renewal in the osteoblastic lineage.

Tollip is a mediator of protein sumoylation

Tollip is an interactor of the interleukin-1 receptor involved in its activation. The endosomal turnover of ubiquitylated IL-1RI is also controlled by Tollip. Furthermore, together with Tom1, Tollip has a general role in endosomal protein traffic. This work shows that Tollip is involved in the sumoylation process. Using the yeast two-hybrid technique, we have isolated new Tollip partners including two sumoylation enzymes, SUMO-1 and the transcriptional repressor Daxx. The interactions were confirmed by GST-pull down experiments and immunoprecipitation of the co-expressed recombinants. More specifically, we show that the TIR domain of the cytoplasmic region of IL-1RI is a sumoylation target of Tollip. The sumoylated and unsumoylated RanGAP-1 protein also interacts with Tollip, suggesting a possible role in RanGAP-1 modification and nuclear-cytoplasmic protein translocation. In fact, Tollip is found in the nuclear bodies of SAOS-2/IL-1RI cells where it colocalizes with SUMO-1 and the Daxx repressor. We conclude that Tollip is involved in the control of both nuclear and cytoplasmic protein traffic, through two different and often contrasting processes: ubiquitylation and sumoylation.

Cell-specific expression of the epm1 (cystatin B) gene in developing rat cerebellum

Cystatin B (cystB) is an anti-protease implicated in EPM1, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. This work analyzes the pattern of expression of cystB in developing and adult cerebellum, identifying the cystB positive cells by double immune-fluorescence microscopy using specific cell markers. In primary glial cells, cystB is found in progenitor and differentiated oligodendrocytes as well as in astrocytes. In the cerebellum, only oligodendrocyte progenitors express cystB. In myelin-producing cells, cystB synthesis is strongly down-regulated and the protein is not detectable. Astrocytes and Bergmann glia express cystB at all the developmental stages analyzed both in the cell body and in the fibers. Most neurons of developing and adult rat cerebellum do not express detectable amounts of cystB, with the exception of the Purkinje cells and of some cells of the differentiated molecular layer. In human cerebellum, cystB is present in Purkinje cells and Bergmann glial fibers only. cystB is also found in the cortical neurons of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. In rat cerebellum, cystB forms a complex with a number of proteins, two of which are specific to the nervous system. The cellular co-localization of cystB and its partners in developing and adult cerebellum is also shown.

Sox2 induction by FGF and FGFR2 activating mutations inhibits Wnt signaling and osteoblast differentiation

Activating mutations in fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) cause several craniosynostosis syndromes by affecting the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts, which form the calvarial bones. Osteoblasts respond to FGF with increased proliferation and inhibition of differentiation. We analyzed the gene expression profiles of osteoblasts expressing FGFR2 activating mutations (C342Y or S252W) and found a striking down-regulation of the expression of many Wnt target genes and a concomitant induction of the transcription factor Sox2. Most of these changes could be reproduced by treatment of osteoblasts with exogenous FGF. Wnt signals promote osteoblast function and regulate bone mass. Sox2 is expressed in calvarial osteoblasts in vivo and we show that constitutive expression of Sox2 inhibits osteoblast differentiation and causes down-regulation of the expression of numerous Wnt target genes. Sox2 associates with β-catenin in osteoblasts and can inhibit the activity of a Wnt responsive reporter plasmid through its COOH-terminal domain. Our results indicate that FGF signaling could control many aspects of osteoblast differentiation through induction of Sox2 and regulation of the Wnt–β-catenin pathway.

Mechanisms underlying differential responses to FGF signaling

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are key regulators of several developmental processes in which cell fate and differentiation to various tissue lineages are determined. The importance of the proper spatial and temporal regulation of FGF signals is evident from human and mouse genetic studies which show that mutations leading to the dysregulation of FGF signals cause a variety of developmental disorders including dominant skeletal diseases and cancer. The FGF ligands signal via a family of receptor tyrosine kinases and, depending on the cell type or stage of maturation, produce diverse biological responses that include proliferation, growth arrest, differentiation or apoptosis. A central issue in FGF biology is to understand how these diverse cellular responses are determined and how similar signaling inputs can generate distinct patterns of gene expression that govern the specificity of the cellular response. In this review we draw upon studies from the past fifteen years and attempt to construct a molecular picture of the different levels of regulation by which such specific cellular responses could be achieved by FGF signals. We discuss whether specificity could lie in the nature of the ligand, the particular receptor, the signal transduction pathways utilized, or the transcriptional regulation of specific genes. Finally, we also discuss how the interplay of FGF signals with other signaling systems could contribute to the cellular response. In particular we focus on the interaction with the Wnt pathway since FGF/Wnt cross-talk is emerging as an important nexus in regulating a variety of biological processes.