Megumi Maeda¹, Yoshie Miura¹, Yasumitsu Nishimura¹, Shuko Murakami¹, Hiroaki Hayashi¹, Naoko Kumagai¹, Tamayo Hatayama¹, Minako Katoh¹, Naomi Miyahara¹, Shoko Yamamoto¹, Kazuya Fukuoka², Takumi Kishimoto³, Takashi Nakano² and Takemi Otsuki¹

¹Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, Kurashiki 7010192, Japan. ²Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hyogo Medical College of Medicine, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, 6638131, Japan. ³Okayama Rosai Hospital, 1-10-25 Chikkou-midori-machi, Okayama 7028055, Japan.

Abstract

It is common knowledge that asbestos exposure causes asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma (MM) not only in people who have handled asbestos in the work environment, but also in residents living near factories that handle asbestos. These facts have been an enormous medical and social problem in Japan since the summer of 2005. We focused on the immunological effects of asbestos and silica on the human immune system. In this brief review, we present immunological changes in patients with MM and outline their experimental detection. For example, there is over-expression of bcl-2 in CD4+ peripheral T-cells, high plasma concentrations of interleukin (IL)-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß, and multiple over-representation of T cell receptor (TcR)-Vß in peripheral CD3+ T-cells found in MM patients. We also detail an experimental long-term exposure T-cell model. Analysis of the immunological effects of asbestos may help our understanding of the biological effects of asbestos.