Ferruginous bodies resolved by synchrotron XRF in a dog with peritoneal malignant mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Ferruginous bodies resolved by synchrotron XRF in a dog with peritoneal malignant mesothelioma, by E. Pascotto, A. Gianoncelli, C. Calligaro, et al (Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 2018).

The study

• Authors: E. Pascotto, A. Gianoncelli, C. Calligaro, T. Marcuzzo, M. Melato, C. Rizzardi, L. Pascolo
• Journal: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International
• Published: 2018;25(35):35707-35714
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Mesothelioma is a malignant tumor mainly correlated to occupational asbestos exposure. Rare reports describe its occurrence also in animals, mainly linked to asbestos in the environment. Asbestos exposure is demonstrated by the appearance of characteristic histological hallmarks: asbestos containing ferruginous bodies that are iron-based structures forming around fibers and also other dust particles. Here we present a clinical case of a suspect of mesothelioma in the peritoneum of a dog with parallel histological observation of ferruginous bodies. To possibly correlate the dog tumor to environmental exposure, we performed X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses at two different synchrotrons to resolve the ferruginous bodies' composition. While the histological examination diagnoses a tubulo-papillary mesothelioma, the XRF analyses show that ferruginous bodies contain Si particles, resembling formations of exogenous origin; however, the morphology is unlikely that of asbestos fibers. We speculate that the peritoneal mesothelioma of this dog could be related to environmental exposure to non-asbestos material.

In plain English

This article is a case report about one dog, a 12-year-old male Spitz that had lived its whole life in a home and garden in Tarcento, Italy. The owner did not mention asbestos-cement boards near the house. The dog was brought to a university veterinary clinic with breathing difficulty, loss of appetite and weight loss. It had bleeding fluid in the abdomen and died after one day. Tissue examination showed a tubulo-papillary tumor of intermediate malignancy. Antibody tests did not fully support the diagnosis, but the authors judged peritoneal malignant mesothelioma the most likely one. The tissue contained abundant iron-coated (ferruginous) bodies, 1 to 20 micrometers long. Using X-ray fluorescence at two synchrotrons, the authors found iron and calcium together in these bodies, and silicon, magnesium and aluminum in scattered spots. The bodies looked like clusters of rounded particles, without the connecting fiber of asbestos bodies. The authors could not demonstrate asbestos exposure. They proposed that the dog was exposed to short fibers or particles containing silicon, sodium or aluminum.

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: Veterinary case report (one dog), with tissue examination, antibody staining and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence analysis of ferruginous bodies
• Who was studied: One 12-year-old male Spitz dog, privately owned, that lived all its life in a home and garden environment in Tarcento (Udine), Italy. It was admitted to the veterinary clinic of the University of Udine and died after one day.
• Exposure: No known asbestos exposure was reported: the owner did not mention asbestos-cement boards in the garden or near the house. The study analyzed the chemical make-up of ferruginous bodies found in the dog's peritoneal tissue to look for signs of what material the dog may have been exposed to.
• Main results:
  • Tissue examination of the peritoneal mass showed an infiltrating tubulo-papillary tumor of intermediate grade of malignancy.
  • In antibody (immunohistochemical) testing, the tumor cells were positive for pan-cytokeratin AE1/AE3 and negative for all the other antibodies tested. On additional sections, some tumor cells were weakly labeled for vimentin. The authors considered peritoneal malignant mesothelioma the most likely diagnosis.
  • The peritoneal tissue contained abundant ferruginous bodies. Staining confirmed they were rich in iron, and they measured from 1 to 20 micrometers in length.
  • In the dog's tissue, iron reached concentrations of up to 0.5% in a specific area, marking the ferruginous bodies. In the high-iron areas, calcium and iron showed a positive correlation (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.7276; p less than 0.001). No correlation was found between calcium and zinc, or between iron and zinc.
  • At higher resolution, the ferruginous bodies appeared as clusters of rounded particles 2 to 10 micrometers in size. The authors stated these could not be attributed to asbestos because there was no fiber connecting the segments.
  • Silicon, magnesium and aluminum appeared in scattered hot spots with little overlap. The authors described the silicon spots as compatible with particles or with broken, short, partly dissolved fibers.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that they could not demonstrate asbestos exposure. They proposed that the dog was exposed to short fibers and/or particles containing silicon, sodium and/or aluminum that reached the peritoneum. In their view, the report points to a general risk from environmental fibers and particles, which could imply an environmental risk to the dog's owners.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The antibodies used were made for human diagnosis, and their reactivity with dog tissue was not ensured. The authors described the mesothelioma diagnosis as not fully supported by the antibody testing.
  • The antibodies' specification sheets did not mention cross-reactivity with species other than humans.
  • The X-ray analyses could not show asbestos inside the ferruginous bodies, so the source of the material remains unidentified.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Ferruginous Bodies, Malignant Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Peritoneum, Environmental Exposure, Tubulopapillary, Peritoneal Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Synchrotron soft X-ray imaging and fluorescence microscopy reveal novel features of asbestos body morphology and composition in human lung tissues — L. Pascolo, A. Gianoncelli, et al. (2011)
• Synchrotron X-ray microscopy reveals early calcium and iron interaction with crocidolite fibers in the lung of exposed mice — L. Pascolo, G. Zabucchi, et al. (2016)
• Analysis of cores of ferruginous bodies from former asbestos workers — R.F. Dodson, M.F. O'Sullivan, et al. (1982)
• Iron-related toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes and crocidolite fibres in human mesothelial cells investigated by Synchrotron XRF microscopy — F. Cammisuli, S. Giordani, et al. (2018)
• Fibrous dust particles and ferruginous bodies. Methods for quantitating them and some results from the lungs of city dwellers — P. Gross, J. Tuma, et al. (1970)
• Environmental scanning electron microscopy technique to identify asbestos phases inside ferruginous bodies — A. Croce, M. Musa, et al. (2013)

Browse more research in Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, or return to medical research.