Immune response in shipyard workers with x ray abnormalities consistent with asbestos exposure

Our plain-English summary of Immune response in shipyard workers with x ray abnormalities consistent with asbestos exposure, by H. Anton-Culver, B.D. Culver, T. Kurosaki (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1988).

The study

• Authors: H. Anton-Culver, B.D. Culver, T. Kurosaki
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1988;45(7):464-8
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000883).

Abstract

The association of cellular and humoral immune responses with asbestos exposure was studied in two groups of 150 workers each from a shipyard population and compared with a population of Red Cross blood donors. One of the shipyard groups had both chest x ray evidence of asbestos exposure and work assignments that necessitated direct handling of asbestos. The other shipyard group had normal chest x ray films and no job assignments involving the direct handling of asbestos. Cellular immune responses studied were mitogen activation and measures of T helper and T suppressor cells. Humoral immune measures were IgG, IgA, and IgM. In shipyard workers with asbestos related x ray abnormalities there was a significant increase in pokeweed mitogen stimulation. In both shipyard groups compared with Red Cross blood donors were found (1) significantly higher IgG and IgA levels and (2) greater numbers of T helper and T suppressor cells; because of the disproportionately large number of T suppressor cells, Th/Ts ratios were lower than in the Red Cross controls. Observations of differences in humoral and cellular immune response may point the way to the early diagnosis of the clinical manifestation of asbestos related disease.

In plain English

This study compared immune measures in three groups. The first was 150 workers at a West Coast shipyard whose chest x rays showed pleural plaques; a few also had pleural thickening or parenchymal fibrosis. The second was 150 age-matched workers from the same shipyard with normal x rays and no jobs involving direct asbestos handling. The third was male Red Cross blood donors from Southern California. The article does not say which type of asbestos these workers were exposed to. Workers with plaques had longer asbestos exposure and a higher exposure index. Compared with shipyard controls, they showed higher lymphocyte responses to pokeweed mitogen at both doses tested, a difference that held after accounting for age, smoking and exposure. Phytohaemagglutinin responses and immunoglobulin levels did not differ significantly between the two shipyard groups. Both shipyard groups had higher IgG and IgA than donors, about 1.3 times as many T helper cells, about 1.7 times as many T suppressor cells, and a lower helper-to-suppressor ratio. The authors concluded these changes may one day help early diagnosis of susceptibility to asbestos-caused malignancy. They noted a prospective study is needed and some differences could be chance findings.

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 immune blood measures across three groups: shipyard workers with x ray abnormalities, shipyard workers with normal x rays, and Red Cross blood donors
• Who was studied: 150 randomly selected workers from a West Coast shipyard with chest x ray abnormalities consistent with asbestos exposure (pleural plaques in all; a few also had pleural thickening and parenchymal fibrosis); 150 workers from the same shipyard with no x ray abnormalities, matched for age within five years, with no job requiring direct handling of asbestos but some with incidental exposure; and 634 male Red Cross blood donors from Southern California
• Exposure: Shipyard asbestos exposure, with the fiber type for these workers not stated. Exposure was summarised as an asbestos exposure index weighting years in high, intermediate and low intensity exposure shops. The index was 24.5 in the group with x ray abnormalities and 9.5 in the shipyard control group. Mean duration of asbestos exposure was 25.1 and 21.4 years respectively.
• Main results:
  • Workers with x ray abnormalities had significantly higher mean pokeweed mitogen stimulation than shipyard controls at both mitogen concentrations (p less than 0.001 and less than 0.003)
  • The pokeweed difference was confirmed for chest x ray abnormality after correction for age, smoking, and asbestos exposure
  • Differences in phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation between the two shipyard groups were not significant at any of the three doses
  • IgA, IgM and IgG means did not differ between the two shipyard groups
  • The number of eosinophils differed significantly between the two shipyard groups
  • Both shipyard groups had significantly higher IgG than the Red Cross donors
  • IgA was also higher in shipyard workers than in the Red Cross donors
  • IgM did not differ between shipyard workers (with or without x ray changes) and Red Cross donors
  • Both shipyard groups had 1.3 times more T helper cells than Red Cross donors
  • Shipyard workers had about 1.7 times as many T suppressor cells as Red Cross donors
  • The T helper to T suppressor ratio was significantly lower in shipyard workers than in Red Cross donors (p less than 0.005)
  • T helper cells, T suppressor cells and their ratio did not differ significantly between the two shipyard groups
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the observed changes in IgG and IgA, mitogen stimulation, and the disproportionate increase in T suppressor cells with lower helper-to-suppressor ratios may one day serve as clues to the early diagnosis of susceptibility for asbestos-caused malignancy
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The biological importance of the statistically significant differences remains to be determined
  • Many comparisons were made, so some differences may be random rather than real effects
  • Testing these possible clues will require a prospective study

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

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• An epidemiological survey of immunological abnormalities in asbestos workers. II. Serum immunoglobulin levels — A. Lange (1980)
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• Polyclonal human T-cell activation by silicate in vitro — A. Ueki, M. Yamaguchi, et al. (1994)
• Activation of human CD4+CD45RA+ T cells by chrysotile asbestos in vitro — K. Kinugawa, A. Ueki, et al. (1992)

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