Researchers believe that C8 may be associated with changes in liver and immune function, as well as higher cholesterol levels in children, according to a preliminary analysis of data from a landmark new health study.

"These preliminary results are exactly that - preliminary," said West Virginia University researcher Stephanie Frisbee.

"Right now - first pass - it looks like there may be something there," Frisbee said Thursday. "There is something there that warrants further investigation."

Frisbee and other WVU researchers are poring over blood tests and other data assembled as part of a huge study of C8's possible impacts on the health of nearly 70,000 residents near the DuPont Co. Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg.

The C8 Health Project is a multi-year effort to examine the chemical's possible effects on mid-Ohio Valley residents. It is funded by major portions of a $107.6 million settlement paid by DuPont to settle a lawsuit alleging the company poisoned residents' drinking water with C8. The settlement is also funding a related examination by a three-person science team of possible C8 links to adverse health effects.

C8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA. DuPont has used the chemical since the 1950s at its Washington Works plant. C8 is a processing agent used to make Teflon and other nonstick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain-resistant textiles.

Researchers are finding that people around the world have C8 in their blood in low levels. Evidence is mounting about the chemical's dangerous effects, but regulators have not set a federal standard for its safety.

Earlier this week, a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology linked C8 levels in newborns with smaller abdominal circumference - an indicator of liver size - and decreased birth length.

Last month, initial data from the C8 Health Project reported that residents of communities around DuPont's plant have more than five times more C8 in their blood than average Americans. Over the next six months or so, additional data that examines possible connections between C8 exposure and health effects is expected to be made public.

Researchers believe that C8 may be associated with changes in liver and immune function, as well as higher cholesterol levels in children, according to a preliminary analysis of data from a landmark new health study.

"These preliminary results are exactly that - preliminary," said West Virginia University researcher Stephanie Frisbee.

"Right now - first pass - it looks like there may be something there," Frisbee said Thursday. "There is something there that warrants further investigation."

Frisbee and other WVU researchers are poring over blood tests and other data assembled as part of a huge study of C8's possible impacts on the health of nearly 70,000 residents near the DuPont Co. Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg.

The C8 Health Project is a multi-year effort to examine the chemical's possible effects on mid-Ohio Valley residents. It is funded by major portions of a $107.6 million settlement paid by DuPont to settle a lawsuit alleging the company poisoned residents' drinking water with C8. The settlement is also funding a related examination by a three-person science team of possible C8 links to adverse health effects.

C8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA. DuPont has used the chemical since the 1950s at its Washington Works plant. C8 is a processing agent used to make Teflon and other nonstick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain-resistant textiles.

Researchers are finding that people around the world have C8 in their blood in low levels. Evidence is mounting about the chemical's dangerous effects, but regulators have not set a federal standard for its safety.

Earlier this week, a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology linked C8 levels in newborns with smaller abdominal circumference - an indicator of liver size - and decreased birth length.

Last month, initial data from the C8 Health Project reported that residents of communities around DuPont's plant have more than five times more C8 in their blood than average Americans. Over the next six months or so, additional data that examines possible connections between C8 exposure and health effects is expected to be made public.

WVU researchers are cautious in discussing any of their preliminary results, in part because they are walking a tightrope between the public's right to know about research funded by the class-action settlement and trying to meet the rigorous of peer-reviewed science.

But some preliminary results were discussed during a medical school presentation in Morgantown, and summarized briefly in a PowerPoint presentation.

So far, the presentation said, a preliminary analysis appears to show associations between C8 and immune function, liver function, cholesterol levels and thyroid function.

The preliminary analysis also suggestions some association between and the C-Reactive Protein, which may be a way to measure potential heart disease risk. That association is even less clear than the others, researchers said, and may show that more C8 associated with less of the protein.

"They don't mean - yet - that anything is causal," said Dr. Alan Ducatman, chairman of WVU's Department of Community Medicine and principal investigator for the C8 Heath Project.

"These things are linked in some statistical way, but we really do have a lot to do."

For example, WVU researchers have yet to analyze how other factors, such as obesity and age, might impact the study results.

"What they are doing is helping us to set priorities for where we're going to go with the next round of analysis," Frisbee said. "Much more analysis is needed to understand these associations."

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.