Trichloroethylene + Gene Variant = Renal Cancer?
Workers exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) who carry at least one copy of the GSTT1 allele are reported to have an 88% increase in risk of renal cancer in the new paper "Occupational Trichloroethylene Exposure and Renal Carcinoma Risk: Evidence of Genetic Susceptibility by Reductive Metabolism Gene Variants." Those workers without the polymorphism had a slight decrease in risk. Given that the allele occurs on a gene coding for cysteine β-lyase, which plays an important role in the metabolism of TCE among other molecules, the finding demonstrates biologic plausibility as well as increased risk.
So back to yesterday's post about risk : which risk, if any, would be relevant in a TCE toxic tort case? The risk given to all workers collectively; the risk at a particular range of exposure; the risk given to those carrying the polymorphism; or, the risk to those with the polymorphism exposed at high levels? And could it be the case that one risk is relevant to the question of whether a defendant's conduct was reasonable while another was relevant to the question of causation? How would that work?
However it works, as the causes of individual susceptibility are identified expect these sorts of challenges to multiply.
