Comparison of lung asbestos fiber content in cancer subjects with healthy individuals with no known history of occupational asbestos exposure in Korea

Our plain-English summary of Comparison of lung asbestos fiber content in cancer subjects with healthy individuals with no known history of occupational asbestos exposure in Korea, by J.H. Han, J.D. Park, K. Sakai, et al (Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part a, 2009).

The study

• Authors: J.H. Han, J.D. Park, K. Sakai, N. Hisanaga, H.K. Chang, Y.H. Lee, I.H. Kwon, B.S. Choi, Y.H. Chung, H.Y. Kim, J.S. Yang, M.H. Cho, I.J. Yu
• Journal: Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part a
• Published: 2009;72(21-22):1292-5
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of environmental asbestos exposure on the inducement of lung cancer, pulmonary asbestos and non-asbestos fiber content was determined in 36 normal Korean subjects and 38 lung cancer subjects with no known occupational history of asbestos exposure. Pulmonary asbestos fiber content was measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy-dispersive x-ray analysis after applying a low-temperature ashing procedure. Chrysotile fibers were the major fiber type found in the lungs of the Korean subjects. The asbestos fiber concentrations found in the lungs of normal males (25) and females (11) were 0.26 x 10(6) fibers/g of dry lung tissue and 0.16 x 10(6) fibers/g of dry lung tissue, respectively. The asbestos concentrations found in the lungs of cancer subjects were 0.16 x 10(6) fibers/g of dry lung tissue for 32 males and 0.44 x 10(6) fibers/g of dry lung tissue for 6 females. No statistical difference was found in pulmonary asbestos content between the normal and lung cancer subjects, whereas a statistical difference was noted between normal and lung cancer subjects with respect to lung non-asbestos content, indicating a potential role for non-asbestos fibers being associated with lung cancer.

In plain English

This study measured asbestos and non-asbestos fibers in lungs of Korean people with no known job-related asbestos exposure. One group was 36 people (25 men, 11 women) who died in accidents, from 1998 autopsy files in Seoul. The other was 38 lung cancer patients (32 men, 6 women), using noncancerous tissue from Kosin University hospital in Busan. Chrysotile was the main asbestos type found by electron microscopy. Geometric mean asbestos levels were 0.26 and 0.16 million fibers per gram of dry lung in men and women without cancer, and 0.16 and 0.44 million in those with lung cancer. The asbestos difference was not statistically significant. Non-asbestos fibers were higher in the cancer patients (14.22 and 26.96 million per gram in men and women, versus 7.77 and 7.48 million), and the overall group difference (15.74 versus 7.68 million) was statistically significant. The authors concluded that environmental asbestos exposure did not appear to be a critical factor in lung cancer, though non-asbestos fibers may have some influence. They noted that work histories were hard to trace and that the cancer patients were over 20 years older.

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: Comparison of lung fiber content between autopsy lungs of people who died in accidents and lung tissue from lung cancer patients, analyzed by transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive x-ray analysis
• Who was studied: 36 people with no known asbestos-related occupation (25 males, 11 females) who died in accidents, from autopsy files of hospitals around Chung Ang University, Seoul, Korea, in 1998. Also 38 lung cancer patients (32 males, 6 females) whose noncancerous lung tissue came from paraffin-embedded tissue blocks at Kosin University hospital, Busan, Korea
• Exposure: Non-occupational (environmental) exposure, measured as fibers retained in lung tissue: chrysotile (the main type), the amphiboles crocidolite, tremolite, actinolite and amosite, and non-asbestos fibers
• Main results:
  • Chrysotile was detected in the lungs of 21 of the 36 normal subjects and 19 of the 38 lung cancer subjects
  • Normal (no lung cancer) subjects: asbestos fiber concentration (geometric mean) was 0.26 x 10^6 fibers/g dry lung tissue in males and 0.16 x 10^6 in females
  • Lung cancer subjects: asbestos fiber concentration was 0.16 x 10^6 fibers/g dry lung tissue in males and 0.44 x 10^6 in females. No statistical difference in asbestos content was found between normal and lung cancer subjects
  • Non-asbestos fibers were 7.77 and 7.48 x 10^6 fibers/g dry lung tissue in normal males and females, and 14.22 and 26.96 x 10^6 fibers/g in lung cancer males and females. The text describes this as a statistical difference.
  • In Table 3 the significance marker (p less than .05) appears on the overall totals. Non-asbestos fibers were 15.74 x 10^6 fibers/g dry lung tissue in all 38 cancer subjects versus 7.68 x 10^6 in all 36 normal subjects. Total fibers were 16.01 versus 8.10 x 10^6 fibers/g.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that environmental exposure to asbestos does not appear to be a critical contributing factor to lung cancer development, although environmental exposure to non-asbestos fibers may exert some influence
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Hospital records did not include detailed occupational histories, only job status at death, so occupational history was difficult to trace; occupations of all cancer subjects are listed as unknown
  • Lung cancer subjects were more than 20 years older than the normal subjects, and fiber amounts may accumulate with age

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Lung Cancer, Occupational History, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Low-Temperature Ashing, Chrysotile.

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