Population and Prevention Science of the American Heart Association. Circulation 109(21):2655–2671. Burzotta F, Iacoviello L, Di Castelnuovo A, Glieca F, Luciani N, Zamparelli R, et al. 2001. Relation of the –174 G/C poly- morphism of interleukin-6 to interleukin-6 plasma levels and to length of hospitalization after surgical coronary revascularization. Am J Cardiol 88(10):1125–1128. Chuang KJ, Coull BA, Zanobetti A, Suh H, Schwartz J, Stone PH, et al. 2008. Particulate air pollution as a risk factor for ST-segment depression in patients with coronary artery disease. Circulation 118(13):1314–1320. Dales R. 2004. Ambient carbon monoxide may influence heart rate variability in subjects with coronary artery disease. J Occup Environ Med 46(12):1217–1221. Dalmon J, Laurent M, Courtois G. 1993. The human beta fibrino- gen promoter contains a hepatocyte nuclear factor 1- dependent interleukin-6-responsive element. Mol Cell Biol 13(2):1183–1193. Donaldson K, Stone V, Borm PJ, Jimenez LA, Gilmour PS, Schins RP, et al. 2003. Oxidative stress and calcium sig- naling in the adverse effects of environmental particles (PM10). Free Radic Biol Med 34(11):1369–1382. Jacquemin B, Antoniades C, Nyberg F, Plana E, Muller M, Greven S, et al. 2008. Common genetic polymorphisms and haplotypes of fibrinogen alpha, beta, and gamma chains affect fibrinogen levels and the response to proinflam- matory stimulation in myocardial infarction survivors: the AIRGENE study. J Am Coll Cardiol 52(11):941–952. Katsouyanni K, Zmirou D, Spix C, Sunyer J, Schouten JP, Ponka A, et al. 1995. Short-term effects of air pollution on health: a European approach using epidemiological time- series data. The APHEA project: background, objectives, design. Eur Respir J 8(6):1030–1038. Kleeberger SR. 2003. Genetic aspects of susceptibility to air pollution. Eur Respir J 40(suppl):52s–56s. Ljungman P, Bellander T, Nyberg F, Lampa E, Jacquemin B, Kolz M, et al. 2009. DNA variants, plasma levels and vari- ability of Interleukin-6 in myocardial infarction survivors: results from the AIRGENE study. Thromb Res.124(1):57–64. London SJ. 2007. Gene-air pollution interactions in asthma. Proc Am Thorac Soc 4(3):217–220. Mannila MN, Eriksson P, Leander K, Wiman B, de Faire U, Hamsten A, et al. 2007. The association between fibrino- gen haplotypes and myocardial infarction in men is partly mediated through pleiotropic effects on the serum IL-6 concentration. J Intern Med 261(2):138–147. Mannila MN, Silveira A, Hawe E, Eriksson P, Aillaud MF, Juhan-Vague I, et al. 2004. Plasma fibrinogen concen- tration predicts the risk of myocardial infarction differ- ently in various parts of Europe: effects of beta-fibrinogen genotype and environmental factors. The HIFMECH study. Thromb Haemost 92(6):1240–1249. McGrath JJ. 2000. Biological plausibility for carbon monoxide as a copollutant in PM epidemiologic studies. Inhal Toxicol 12(suppl)4:91–107. Mills NL, Tornqvist H, Gonzalez MC, Vink E, Robinson SD, Soderberg S, et al. 2007. Ischemic and thrombotic effects of dilute diesel-exhaust inhalation in men with coronary heart disease. N Engl J Med 357(11):1075–1082. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 2009. Genbank Overview. Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Genbank/ [accessed 6 June 2009] Niwa Y, Hiura Y, Sawamura H, Iwai N. 2008. Inhalation exposure to carbon black induces inflammatory response in rats. Circ J 72(1):144–149. Peters A, Dockery DW, Muller JE, Mittleman MA. 2001. Increased particulate air pollution and the triggering of myocardial infarction. Circulation 103(23):2810–2815. Peters A, Greven S, Heid IM, Baldari F, Breitner S, Bellander T, et al. 2009. Fibrinogen genes modify the fibrinogen response to ambient particulate matter. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 179(6):484–491. Peters A, Schneider A, Greven S, Bellander T, Forastiere F, Ibald- Mulli A, et al. 2007. Air pollution and inflammatory response in myocardial infarction survivors: gene-environment inter- actions in a high-risk group. Inhal Toxicol 19(suppl 1):161–175. Quay JL, Reed W, Samet J, Devlin RB. 1998. Air pollution parti- cles induce IL-6 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells via NF-kappaB activation. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 19(1):98–106. Rattazzi M, Puato M, Faggin E, Bertipaglia B, Zambon A, Pauletto P. 2003. C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in vascular disease: culprits or passive bystanders? J Hypertens 21(10):1787–1803. Ritchie DG, Levy BA, Adams MA, Fuller GM. 1982. Regulation of fibrinogen synthesis by plasmin-derived fragments of fibrinogen and fibrin: an indirect feedback pathway. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79(5):1530–1534. Robson SC, Shephard EG, Kirsch RE. 1994. Fibrin degradation product D-dimer induces the synthesis and release of biologically active IL-1 beta, IL-6 and plasminogen acti- vator inhibitors from monocytes in vitro. Br J Haematol 86(2):322–326. Air pollution, genes, and IL-6 Romieu I, Ramirez-Aguilar M, Sienra-Monge JJ, Moreno- Macias H, del Rio-Navarro BE, David G, et al. 2006. GSTM1 and GSTP1 and respiratory health in asthmatic children exposed to ozone. Eur Respir J 28(5):953–959. Rückerl R, Greven S, Ljungman P, Aalto P, Antoniades C, Bellander T, et al. 2007. Air pollution and inflammation (interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen) in myocardial infarction survivors. Environ Health Perspect 115:1072–1080. Rückerl R, Ibald-Mulli A, Koenig W, Schneider A, Woelke G, Cyrys J, et al. 2006. Air pollution and markers of inflam- mation and coagulation in patients with coronary heart disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 173(4):432–441. Sarnat JA, Brown KW, Schwartz J, Coull BA, Koutrakis P. 2005. Ambient gas concentrations and personal particulate mat- ter exposures: implications for studying the health effects of particles. Epidemiology 16(3):385–395. Schwartz J. 2001. Air pollution and blood markers of cardio- vascular risk. Environ Health Perspect 109(suppl 3):405–409. Schwartz J, Park SK, O’Neill MS, Vokonas PS, Sparrow D, Weiss S, et al. 2005. Glutathione-S-transferase M1, obesity, statins, and autonomic effects of particles: gene-by-drug- by-environment interaction. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 172(12):1529–1533. Schwartz J, Sarnat JA, Coull BA, Wilson WE. 2007. Effects of exposure measurement error on particle matter epidemiol- ogy: a simulation using data from a panel study in Baltimore, MD. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17(suppl 2):S2–S10. Szaba FM, Smiley ST. 2002. Roles for thrombin and fibrin(ogen) in cytokine/chemokine production and macrophage adhesion in vivo. Blood 99(3):1053–1059. van Houwelingen HC, Arends LR, Stijnen T. 2002. Advanced methods in meta-analysis: multivariate approach and meta-regression. Stat Med 21(4):589–624. Vogel CF, Sciullo E, Wong P, Kuzmicky P, Kado N, Matsumura F. 2005. Induction of proinflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein in human macrophage cell line U937 exposed to air pollution particulates. Environ Health Perspect 113:1536–1541. Watterson TL, Sorensen J, Martin R, Coulombe RA Jr. 2007. Effects of PM2.5 collected from Cache Valley Utah on genes associated with the inflammatory response in human lung cells. J Toxicol Environ Health A 70(20):1731–1744. Zanobetti A, Schwartz J. 2005. The effect of particulate air pollu- tion on emergency admissions for myocardial infarction: a multicity case-crossover analysis. Environ Health Perspect 113:978–982. Environmental Health Perspectives • volume 117 | number 9 | September 2009 1379