Biological changes in firefighters' urine and blood seen 24 hours after fighting a fire
New research from UTHealth Houston found firefighters experience measurable biological changes in their blood and urine within 24 hours of fighting a fire—changes that may help identify early cancer risk, the leading cause of death among firefighters.
A recent study by UTHealth Houston has found that firefighters experience measurable biological changes in their blood and urine within 24 hours of fighting a fire, which could potentially serve as early indicators of cancer risk, the leading cause of death among firefighters. The research, led by Dr. Jooyeon Hwang, analyzed blood and urine samples from 30 firefighters before and after exposure to fire smoke, revealing 75 significantly altered proteins in urine compared to just 10 in blood serum.
The most notable changes were observed in four key proteins (LAMA4, LAMC1, VWF, and B2M) that change in a pattern resembling early cancer pathways, suggesting that toxic smoke may cause immediate cellular stress and weaken the body's immune defenses against tumor development. This discovery highlights the immediate impact of fire exposure on firefighters' health and opens the door to using urine as a noninvasive, sensitive biomarker for early cancer detection and risk assessment.
Brief written by urgent.news from Medical Xpress's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
