FKBP5, a Modulator of Stress Responses Involved in Malignant Mesothelioma: The Link between Stress and Cancer

Our plain-English summary of FKBP5, a Modulator of Stress Responses Involved in Malignant Mesothelioma: The Link between Stress and Cancer, by G. Cugliari (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2023).

The study

• Author: G. Cugliari
• Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Published: 2023;24(9)
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumour characterized by a long latency period after asbestos exposure and poor survival [...].

In plain English

This article is an editorial, a short opinion piece by a single author for a journal special issue on malignant mesothelioma. It did not report new research: no people or animals were studied and no new data were presented. The author discussed FKBP5, a protein involved in the body's response to stress, and its possible link to malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare tumour that the article describes as having a long latency period after asbestos exposure. The editorial summarized earlier published studies, some co-authored by the author. Those earlier studies, not this article, compared DNA methylation (chemical tags on genes) in white blood cells between mesothelioma cases and asbestos-exposed cancer-free controls and reported lower methylation at FKBP5. One of them identified lower methylation at one site in FKBP5 as a predictor of overall survival in mesothelioma cases. The editorial also cited work on FKBP5 in other cancers, in psychiatric disorders and in resistance to cancer drugs. The author concluded that the editorial further supports the notion that stress can affect cancer outcomes in exposed subjects.

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 (opinion piece introducing a journal special issue); no original study
• Who was studied: No population was studied; the editorial discusses previously published research
• Exposure: No exposure was studied. Asbestos exposure is mentioned only as background to malignant pleural mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the editorial further supports the notion that stress can affect cancer outcomes in exposed subjects, perhaps by interfering with nervous-system mechanisms involved in controlling cancer development.

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: Malignant Mesothelioma, Pleural Mesothelioma, Latency, Asbestos Exposure.

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• Chemokines involved in the early inflammatory response and in pro-tumoral activity in asbestos-exposed workers from an Italian coastal area with territorial clusters of pleural malignant mesothelioma — M. Comar, N. Zanotta, et al. (2016)
• Dispersion medium modulates oxidative stress response of human lung epithelial cells upon exposure to carbon nanomaterial samples — E. Herzog, H.J. Byrne, et al. (2009)
• Non-thermal plasma induces a stress response in mesothelioma cells resulting in increased endocytosis, lysosome biogenesis and autophagy — L. Shi, F. Ito, et al. (2017)
• Oxidant stress responses in human pleural mesothelial cells exposed to asbestos — Y.M. Janssen, J.P. Marsh, et al. (1994)

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