Adverse effect propensity: A new feature of Gulf War illness predicted by environmental exposures

Beatrice A Golomb; Jun Hee Han

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107363

Adverse effect propensity: A new feature of Gulf War illness predicted by environmental exposures

iScience. 2023 Jul 13;26(8):107363. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107363. eCollection 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Beatrice A Golomb¹, Jun Hee Han¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Abstract

A third of 1990-1 Gulf-deployed personnel developed drug/chemical-induced multisymptom illness, "Gulf War illness" (GWI). Veterans with GWI (VGWI) report increased drug/exposure adverse effects (AEs). Using previously collected data from a case-control study, we evaluated whether the fraction of exposures that engendered AEs ("AE Propensity") is increased in VGWI (it was); whether AE Propensity is related to self-rated "chemical sensitivity" (it did); and whether specific exposures "predicted" AE Propensity (they did). Pesticides and radiation exposure were significant predictors, with copper significantly "protective"-in the total sample (adjusted for GWI-status) and separately in VGWI and controls, on multivariable regression. Mitochondrial impairment and oxidative stress (OS) underlie AEs from many exposures irrespective of nominal specific mechanism. We hypothesize that mitochondrial toxicity and interrelated OS from pesticides and radiation position people on the steep part of the curve of mitochondrial impairment and OS versus symptom/biological disruption, amplifying impact of new exposures. Copper, meanwhile, is involved in critical OS detoxification processes.

Keywords: Environmental chemistry; Environmental health; Environmental toxicology; Health sciences.