Asbestos bodies: clues to the mechanism of asbestos toxicity?

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos bodies: clues to the mechanism of asbestos toxicity?, by A.B. Kane (Human Pathology, 2003).

The study

• Author: A.B. Kane
• Journal: Human Pathology
• Published: 2003;34(8):735-6
• Type of article: Comment, Editorial
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This editorial commented on a study by Ghio and colleagues, in the same issue of Human Pathology, of asbestos bodies coated with calcium oxalate crystals. The author summarized the diseases associated with asbestos exposure, noted that asbestos bodies in sputum or lung tissue are a histopathologic hallmark of exposure, and outlined fiber properties linked to biologic reactivity, including surface iron. Ghio and colleagues had described 3 patients with occupational asbestos exposure whose sputum and lungs contained such bodies; 2 had asbestosis and 1 was diagnosed with diffuse malignant mesothelioma at autopsy. In in vitro assays using uncoated crocidolite fibers or asbestos bodies from digested human lung, ascorbate was oxidized to oxalate in the presence of H2O2, a reaction inhibited by the iron chelator deferoxamine. The author called this a novel mechanism that may contribute to the pathogenicity of asbestos fibers. Oxidation of ascorbate, an important antioxidant in the lung lining fluid, could contribute to redox cycling of iron and deplete antioxidant defenses, enhancing oxidant-induced lung injury. She suggested the mechanism may contribute to the progressive nature of asbestosis and to the increased incidence of lung cancer and mesothelioma even after exposure ceases. She added that, if it is confirmed in animal models and further human studies, it could lead to a new strategy for chemoprevention.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This was an editorial, not an original study. The author commented on a separate paper in the same journal issue by Ghio and colleagues. As the editorial described it, that paper reported 3 patients with occupational exposure to asbestos fibers who had asbestos bodies coated with calcium oxalate crystals in their sputum and lungs. Two had asbestosis, and the third was diagnosed with diffuse malignant mesothelioma at autopsy. In laboratory tests using uncoated crocidolite asbestos fibers or asbestos bodies recovered from a digested human lung, Ghio and colleagues found that ascorbate (vitamin C) was oxidized to oxalate in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. This reaction depended on reactive iron, because the iron chelator deferoxamine blocked it. Calcium oxalate deposits on asbestos bodies were confirmed by energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The author suggested this mechanism may contribute to the progressive nature of asbestosis and to the increased incidence of lung cancer and diffuse malignant mesothelioma even after exposure stops. The author noted that the mechanism still needs to be confirmed in animal models and in further studies of people with asbestos-related disease.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Editorial commenting on a separate article (Ghio and colleagues, Human Pathology 34:737-742, 2003) that combined 3 patient cases with laboratory experiments
• Who was studied: The editorial studied no population itself. The paper it discusses described 3 patients with occupational asbestos exposure who had calcium oxalate-coated asbestos bodies in sputum and lungs.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure in the 3 patients (no fiber type stated for them). The laboratory experiments in the discussed paper used uncoated crocidolite asbestos fibers or asbestos bodies recovered from a digested human lung.
• Main results:
  • In the discussed paper (Ghio and colleagues), 2 of the 3 patients had asbestosis and the third was diagnosed with diffuse malignant mesothelioma at autopsy.
  • In Ghio and colleagues' laboratory experiments, ascorbate was oxidized to oxalate in the presence of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide).
  • In Ghio and colleagues' experiments, the reaction depended on bioreactive iron: the iron chelator deferoxamine inhibited it.
  • In Ghio and colleagues' experiments, deposition of calcium oxalate crystals on the surface of asbestos bodies was confirmed by energy dispersive x-ray analysis.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that this mechanism may contribute to the progressive nature of asbestosis and to the increased incidence of lung cancer and diffuse malignant mesothelioma even after asbestos exposure stops.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author indicated that the mechanism has not yet been confirmed in animal models or in additional studies of humans with asbestos-related disease.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis, Crocidolite.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Bodies, Pathology, Asbestos Exposure, Sputum, Mesothelioma, Autopsy, Crocidolite, Lung Lining Fluid.

Related studies

• Oxalate deposition on asbestos bodies — A.J. Ghio, V.L. Roggli, et al. (2003)
• Ascorbic acid modifies the surface of asbestos: possible implications in the molecular mechanisms of toxicity — G. Martra, M. Tomatis, et al. (2003)
• Ferruginous bodies: implications in the mechanism of fiber and particle toxicity — A.J. Ghio, A. Churg, et al. (2004)
• Iron from a geochemical viewpoint. Understanding toxicity/pathogenicity mechanisms in iron-bearing minerals with a special attention to mineral fibers — A.F. Gualtieri, G.B. Andreozzi, et al. (2019)
• Asbestos bodies in lung tissue following exposure to crocidolite — V. Williams, N.H. de Klerk, et al. (1995)
• The mechanism of formation of asbestos bodies — S.K. Botham, P.F. Holt (1968)

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