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Roggli VL, Pavlisko EN, Glass CH, Green CL, Liu B, Carney JM. Response to the editor-Environmental Research this letter is a critique of the paper by Roggli et al. (1) regarding chronological trends of the fiber burden in mesothelioma cases. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 251:118620. [PMID: 38447601 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Victor L Roggli
- Department of Pathology, Duke Univeristy Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
| | | | - Carolyn H Glass
- Department of Pathology, Duke Univeristy Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA
| | | | - Beiyu Liu
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, USA
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Visonà SD, Bertoglio B, Capella S, Belluso E, Austoni B, Colosio C, Kurzhunbaeva Z, Ivic-Pavlicic T, Taioli E. Asbestos burden in lungs of mesothelioma patients with pleural plaques, lung fibrosis and/or ferruginous bodies at histology: a postmortem SEM-EDS study. Carcinogenesis 2024; 45:131-139. [PMID: 38069464 DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgad090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The causal attribution of asbestos-related diseases to past asbestos exposures is of crucial importance in clinical and legal contexts. Often this evaluation is made based on the history of exposure, but this method presents important limitations. To assess past asbestos exposure, pleural plaques (PP), lung fibrosis and histological evidence of ferruginous bodies (FB) can be used in combination with anamnestic data. However, such markers have never been associated with a threshold value of inhaled asbestos. With this study we attempted to shed light on the dose-response relationship of PP, lung fibrosis and FBs, investigating if their prevalence in exposed individuals who died from malignant mesothelioma (MM) is related to the concentration of asbestos in lungs assessed using scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy. Moreover, we estimated the values of asbestos concentration in lungs associated with PP, lung fibrosis and FB. Lung fibrosis showed a significant positive relationship with asbestos lung content, whereas PP and FB did not. We identified, for the first time, critical lung concentrations of asbestos related to the presence of PP, lung fibrosis and FB at histology (respectively, 19 800, 26 400 and 27 400 fibers per gram of dry weight), that were all well-below the background levels of asbestos identified in our laboratory. Such data suggest that PP, lung fibrosis and FB at histology should be used with caution in the causal attribution of MM to past asbestos exposures, while evaluation of amphibole lung content using analytical electron microscopy should be preferred.
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Affiliation(s)
- S D Visonà
- Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, Unit of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - B Bertoglio
- Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, Unit of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - S Capella
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and other Toxic Particulates 'G. Scansetti', University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - E Belluso
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and other Toxic Particulates 'G. Scansetti', University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - B Austoni
- Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, Unit of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - C Colosio
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
- Occupational Health Unit, Santi Paolo e Carlo Hospital, Milan, Italy
| | - Z Kurzhunbaeva
- Department of Health Sciences; Course of Research Doctorate in Public Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - T Ivic-Pavlicic
- Institute for Translational Epidemiology and Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - E Taioli
- Institute for Translational Epidemiology and Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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Carbone M, Minaai M, Takinishi Y, Pagano I, Yang H. Preventive and therapeutic opportunities: targeting BAP1 and/or HMGB1 pathways to diminish the burden of mesothelioma. J Transl Med 2023; 21:749. [PMID: 37880686 PMCID: PMC10599047 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-023-04614-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Mesothelioma is a cancer typically caused by asbestos. Mechanistically, asbestos carcinogenesis has been linked to the asbestos-induced release of HMGB1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where HMGB1 promotes autophagy and cell survival, and to the extracellular space where HMGB1 promotes chronic inflammation and mesothelioma growth. Targeting HMGB1 inhibited asbestos carcinogenesis and the growth of mesothelioma. It is hoped that targeting HMGB1 will be a novel therapeutic strategy that benefits mesothelioma patients. Severe restrictions and/or a complete ban on the use of asbestos were introduced in the 80 and early 90s in the Western world. These measures have proven effective as the incidence of mesothelioma/per 100,000 persons is decreasing in these countries. However, the overall number of mesotheliomas in the Western world has not significantly decreased. There are several reasons for that which are discussed here: (1) the presence of asbestos in old constructions; (2) the development of rural areas containing asbestos or other carcinogenic mineral fibers in the terrain; (3) the discovery of an increasing fraction of mesotheliomas caused by germline genetic mutations of BAP1 and other tumor suppressor genes; (4) mesotheliomas caused by radiation therapy; (5) the overall increase in the population and of the fraction of older people who are much more susceptible to develop all types of cancers, including mesothelioma. In summary, the epidemiology of mesothelioma is changing, the ban on asbestos worked, there are opportunities to help mesothelioma patients especially those who develop in a background of germline mutations and there is the opportunity to prevent a mesothelioma epidemic in the developing world, where the use of asbestos is increasing exponentially. We hope that restrictive measures similar to those introduced in the Western world will soon be introduced in developing countries to prevent a mesothelioma epidemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Carbone
- Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
| | - Michael Minaai
- Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA
| | - Yasutaka Takinishi
- Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA
| | - Ian Pagano
- Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA
| | - Haining Yang
- Thoracic Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
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Smith SR. An updated review of diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura - A sentinel health event of potential elongate mineral particle pathogenicity. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 230:115608. [PMID: 36965792 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.115608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
There are approximately 400 inorganic minerals in the Earth's crust, some of which can be encountered as elongate mineral particles [EMPs] with dimensional characteristics similar to the six minerals known as asbestos and other asbestiform amphiboles with established human pathogenicity. In addition, the rapidly developing field of nanotechnology is producing an ever-increasing array of high aspect ratio engineered nanomaterials [HARNs] with physical dimensions and biodurability similar to the asbestos fiber types with recognized pathogenic potential. Many of these non-asbestos/non-asbestiform EMPs and HARNs with the potential for aerosolization into the breathing zones of workers and in individuals in non-occupational environments have not yet been thoroughly studied with respect to their potential human pathogenicity, a fact which obviously poses concerns for both occupational health and public health professionals. On the basis of dose-response considerations it seems reasonable to infer that if any of these non-regulated EMPs or HARNs actually are pathogenic, then those mineral fiber exposure-induced disorders associated with the lowest cumulative exposure doses of the commercial amphibole types of asbestos, that is, diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura, and its non-malignant correlate of benign parietal pleural plaques, are those which are most likely to occur following inhalational exposures to any of the non-regulated EMPs and HARNs. Because of that observation, this paper reviews certain aspects of diffuse mesothelioma, including a summary of recent changes in the nomenclature of diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura; of both the descriptive and the analytical epidemiology of the disease; of the etiologies of mesothelioma, both "exposure" related and endogenous in nature; and of the asbestos population attributable fraction for diffuse mesotheliomas in the USA, both historically and in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Richard Smith
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hancock Professional Park, Suite 26, 12315 Hancock Street, Carmel, IN, 46032-5885, USA.
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