Urinary Porphyrin Excretion in Children is Associated with Exposure to Organochlorine Compounds

BACKGROUND: Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and other organochlorines induce porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) in animal studies. Evidence in humans, however, is contradictory. In neonates and adults from a population historically highly exposed to HCB (Flix, Catalonia, Spain), no relation with PCT or with porphyrin excretion was found. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to analyze the association between urinary porphyrin excretion and exposure to HCB and other organochlorinated compounds in children 4 years of age. METHODS: Our birth cohort included all newborns from Flix and the five surrounding towns (where no airborne pollution occurred). Among the 68 children with porphyrins we measured in cord blood, 52 children 4 years of age provided blood to measure organochlorine compounds, hair for methylmercury, and urine for porphyrin excretion pattern. RESULTS: Quantitative porphyrin excretion was within the normal values. However, total porphyrins, coproporphyrin I (CPI), and coproporphyrin III (CPIII) adjusted to creatinine excretion increased with increasing levels of HCB, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p′-DDE), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (p,p′-DDT), and polychlorinated biphenyl congener 153 (PCB-153). We found no association with methylmercury. When we fitted multiple pollutant models, p,p′-DDE had the strongest association. We found these associations in children from both Flix and other towns, and they were independent of breast-feeding and of organochlorine and porphyrin levels at birth. CONCLUSION: HCB at current levels did not induce porphyria or increase uroporphyrins. However, the increase of urinary coproporphyrins suggests an incipient toxic effect of the organochlorines, especially for p,p′-DDE, on the hepatic heme-synthesis pathway that differs from the major effects seen in PCT.