Single- and multi-wall carbon nanotubes versus asbestos: are the carbon nanotubes a new health risk to humans?

J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2010 Jan;73(5):378-95

Authors: Pacurari M, Castranova V, Vallyathan V

Carbon nanotubes (CNT), since their discovery, have become one of the most promising nanomaterials in many industrial and biomedical applications. Due to their unique physicochemical properties, interest is growing in the manufacture of CNT-based products and their subsequent marketing. Since their discovery, the prospect of possible undesirable human health effects has been a focus of many scientific studies. Although CNT possess unique physical properties that include (1) nanoscale diameter, (2) a wide length distribution ranging from tens of nanometers to several micrometers, and (3) high aspect

An overview of how asbestos exposure affects the lung.

BMJ. 2009;339:b3209

Authors: Currie GP, Watt SJ, Maskell NA

PMID: 19703924 [PubMed - in process]

Extrapleural pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma: outcomes of treatment and prognostic factors.

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2009 Sep;138(3):619-24

Authors: Yan TD, Boyer M, Tin MM, Wong D, Kennedy C, McLean J, Bannon PG, McCaughan BC

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the perioperative and long-term outcomes associated with extrapleural pneumonectomy for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. METHODS: From October 1994 to April 2008, 70 patients were selected for extrapleural pneumonectomy. Univariate analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Multivariate analysis with entering and removing limits of P less than .10 and P greater than .05, respectively, was used. The prognostic factors included age, gender, side of disease, asbestos exposure, histology, positron emission tomography, date of surgery,

Chemoimmunotherapy: an emerging strategy for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma.

Tissue Antigens. 2009 Jul;74(1):1-10

Authors: McCoy MJ, Nowak AK, Lake RA

Whether the immune system can recognize malignant and premalignant cells and eliminate them to prevent the development of cancer is still a matter of open debate, but in our view, the balance of evidence favours this concept. Nonetheless, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has now predicted that cancer will overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death worldwide by 2010, showing that this protective mechanism often fails. Malignant mesothelioma has traditionally been considered a relatively non-immunogenic cancer. However, mesothelioma cells do express a set of well-defined tumour antigens that have been sh

The burden of exposure-related diffuse lung disease.

Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Dec;29(6):591-602

Authors: Goldyn SR, Condos R, Rom WN

Estimating the burden of exposure-related diffuse lung disease in terms of health effects and economic burden remains challenging. Labor statistics are inadequate to define the scope of the problem, and few studies have analyzed the prevalence of exposure-related illnesses and the subsequent health care cost. Well-defined exposures, such as those associated with coal mines, asbestos mines, and stonecutting, have led to more accurate assessment of prevalence and cost. As governmental regulation of workplace exposure has increased, the prevalence of diseases such as silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis has diminished. However, the health and economic effects of diseases with long latency periods, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma,

Early detection of malignant pleural mesothelioma through measurement of soluble mesothelin-related protein and positron emission tomography.

Med J Aust. 2009 Feb 2;190(3):158-9

Authors: O'Lone EL, Park EK, Sandrini A, Fogarty GB, Yates DH

A 51-year-old man with no known history of asbestos exposure presented with hydropneumothorax. Soluble mesothelin-related protein testing and combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography were used to diagnose malignant pleural mesothelioma. One year after radical surgery and radiotherapy, there was no clinical recurrence.

PMID: 19203317 [PubMed - in process]

Gene therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma: present and future.

Oncol Res. 2008;17(6):239-46

Authors: Tada Y, Takiguchi Y, Hiroshima K, Shimada H, Ueyama T, Nakamura M, Tatsumi K, Kuriyama T, Tagawa M

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is relatively rare in frequency but one of the intractable diseases linked with asbestos exposure. Clinical outcomes with the present treatment modalities are unsatisfactory and no effective prevention method has been reported. Growing numbers of the patients in the Western countries with a long latent period need development of a novel therapeutic strategy. Gene therapy is a candidate for mesothelioma treatment because of its easy accessibility of a vector-mediated gene medicine into the intrapleural cavity. Several preclinical studies demonstrated that the gene medicine produced antitumor effects, suggesting the feasibility in clinical settings. In this article, we review the current status of gene therapy and clinical trials

Update of Potency Factors for Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma.

Crit Rev Toxicol. 2008 Aug 1;:1

Authors: Berman DW, Crump KS

The most recent update of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health assessment document for asbestos (Nicholson, 1986, referred to as "the EPA 1986 update") is now 20 years old. That document contains estimates of "potency factors" for asbestos in causing lung cancer (K(L)'s) and mesothelioma (K(M)'s) derived by fitting mathematical models to data from studies of occupational cohorts. The present paper provides a parallel analysis that incorporates data from studies published since the EPA 1986 update. The EPA lung cancer model assumes that the relative risk varies linearly with cumulative exposure lagged 10 years. This implies that the

Environmental exposure to Libby asbestos and mesotheliomas.

Am J Ind Med. 2008 Jul 23;

Authors: Whitehouse AC, Black CB, Heppe MS, Ruckdeschel J, Levin SM

BACKGROUND: Thirty-one cases of mesothelioma resulting from exposure to Libby Asbestos have been identified from Libby, Montana. Eleven cases not previously reported are the subject of this report. METHODS: These cases are in non-occupationally exposed people, appearing to have resulted from exposure to contamination of the community, the surrounding forested area, and areas in proximity to the Kootenai river and railroad tracks used to haul vermiculite. RESULTS: These exposures are considered to be of a low degree of magnitude, but are similar to those in Western Australia's crocidolite mine at Wittenoom Gorge. An epidemic of mesothelioma can likely be expected from this type of asbestos contamination over the next 20 plus years. Am. J. Ind. Med.

Mortality Of Former Crocidolite (Blue Asbestos) Miners And Millers At Wittenoom.

Occup Environ Med. 2007 Nov 28;

Authors: Musk AB, de Klerk N, Reid A, Ambrosini GL, Fritschi L, Olsen N, Merler E, Hobbs M, Berry G

Introduction: Blue asbestos was mined and milled at Wittenoom in Western Australia between 1943 and 1966. METHODS: 7000 male workers who worked at the Wittenoom mine and mill have been followed up at death and cancer registries throughout Australia and Italy to the

Induction of mesothelioma in p53+/- mouse by intraperitoneal application of multi-wall carbon nanotube.

J Toxicol Sci. 2008 Feb;33(1):105-16

Authors: Takagi A, Hirose A, Nishimura T, Fukumori N, Ogata A, Ohashi N, Kitajima S, Kanno J

Nanomaterials of carbon origin tend to form various shapes of particles in micrometer dimensions. Among them, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) form fibrous or rod-shaped particles of length around 10 to 20 micrometers with an aspect ratio of more than three. Fibrous particles of this dimension including asbestos and some man-made fibers are reported to be carcinogenic, typically inducing mesothelioma. Here we report that MWCNT induces mesothelioma along with a positive control, crocidolite (blue asbestos), when administered intraperitoneally to p53 heterozygous mice that have been reported to be sensitive to asbestos. Our results point out the p

Medico-legal aspects of mesothelioma.

Ann Ital Chir. 2007 Sep-Oct;78(5):401-3

Authors: Partemi S, De Giorgio F

The Authors, reviewing the Literature on asbestos-related Malignant Mesothelioma (MM), found that because of its very peculiar characteristics, the causal link between professional asbestos exposure and the development of this tumour is very difficult to define in respect to: diagnosis, causal link and individuation of possible culpable conducts. The evaluation of causal link in different medico-legal areas is studied by different criteria. In civil law the criterion of weak causality is followed to allow compensation for damages. For institutional purposes in INAIL, the definition of causal link is particularly facilitated by the legal presumption of origin. In fact it is sufficient, that asbestos-related lesions are ascertained in individuals who are or were exposed at any time of their professional life to the risk of inhaling asbestos fibres. In c

Malignant Mesothelioma Resistance to Apoptosis: Recent Discoveries and their Implication for Effective Therapeutic Strategies.

Curr Med Chem. 2008;15(7):631-41

Authors: Villanova F, Procopio A, Rippo MR

Malignant Mesothelioma is an aggressive and fatal type of tumor. The incidence of mesothelioma has increased in the past 30 years and is now common as male cancers of the liver, bone and bladder, especially in Europe and Australia. The main risk factor is asbestos exposure even if other co-factor, such as simian virus 40 (SV40) could be implied in its etiology. Unfortunately, its incidence is expected to continue to increase for the next decades, also in rapidly industrializing countries, such as India, where it is not recognised as an occupational disease. Furthermore, some disastrous events, such as the World Trade Center Disaster, may contribute to increase future risk for mesothelioma. The treatment-resistant phenotype of mesothelioma is largely due to its

[Epidemiological risk assessment of asbestos-related benign pleural and parenchymal changes in workers after past exposure to chrysotile asbestos]

Med Pr. 2007;58(4):279-86

Authors: Staniszewska MD, Sobala W, Szeszenia-Dabrowska N

BACKGROUND: Health effects related with asbestos dust exposure are observed many years after its onset. The objective of the study was to evaluate the risk of pleural and parenchymal changes depending on the duration of exposure, lapse of time since first contact with asbestos dust, and cumulative dust exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The st