Bernie Goldstein States the Case for Benzene-Induced Lymphocytic Malignancies
Arguing that the target of benzene is a multipotent stem cell capable, when carrying the sort of mutations thought to be caused by benzene, of producing both myeloid and lymphoid malignancies, and that new classification systems are blurring the lines between previously thought distinct diseases, Goldstein's article concludes that there is now sufficient evidence to attribute lymphomas to benzene exposure.
That's the same argument made years ago in benzene litigation, though with different references. So what should we make of the intervening science? What about alkylating chemotherapeutics that produced similar genotoxicity and t-AMLs but not lymphomas? What about the epi studies that show increased risk for AML but not lymphomas?
In many respects last year's benzene conference in Munich served mainly to demonstrate how little is known about leukemogenesis and how staggeringly complex is the causal web that leads to lymphoproliferative malignancies.
