Inorganic particles in human tissues and their association with neoplastic disease

Our plain-English summary of Inorganic particles in human tissues and their association with neoplastic disease, by A.M. Langer (Environmental Health Perspectives, 1974).

The study

• Author: A.M. Langer
• Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Published: 1974;9:229-33
• Cited by: 29 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. 001274).

Abstract

An increased gastrointestinal cancer risk is associated with occupational exposure to asbestos fiber. Examination of tissues obtained from extrapulmonary organs of exposed workmen demonstrates the presence of asbestos fibers and bodies. The amount of fiber present in these tissues is many magnitudes less than encountered in the lung tissues from the same individuals. Ingestion of asbestos fiber in some environmental instances may approach in magnitude the amount resulting from occupational exposure. Disease factors are discussed.

In plain English

This 1974 article by Arthur M. Langer was mainly a discussion paper. It reviewed earlier studies by other researchers that linked occupational asbestos exposure to more gastrointestinal cancer. It also raised questions, which it did not answer, about whether swallowing small amounts of asbestos in food and water poses a cancer risk. The article reported a small piece of the author's own laboratory work. Lung tissue and tissue from other organs (liver, pancreas, kidney, adrenal and spleen) of five workmen occupationally exposed to asbestos dust were examined under a light microscope. Fibers large enough to see this way were found in all the organs outside the lung that were examined. The author reported that these organs held far fewer fibers than the lung, where counts passed the counting limit of 99 in every case. Uncoated fibers outnumbered coated fibers (asbestos bodies). Electron microscopy of some such tissues also found uncoated fibers, at much lower concentrations than in lung. The author called the light microscopy study very limited and concluded that inhaling asbestos fiber invariably means its spread throughout the body.

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: Discussion and review article that summarizes earlier epidemiological studies by others, with a small descriptive light and electron microscopy study of human tissues from the author's laboratory
• Who was studied: Lung and extrapulmonary tissues (liver, pancreas, kidney, adrenal, spleen) from five workmen occupationally exposed to asbestos dust (Table 4). Not every organ was available for every case. The article does not say where or when the tissues were obtained.
• Exposure: Occupational exposure to asbestos dust. The fiber types for the five cases are not specified.
• Main results:
  • Fibers large enough to be seen by light microscopy were found in all extrapulmonary organs examined in the asbestos workmen.
  • The author reported that fibers in the extrapulmonary organs were magnitudes fewer than in the lung of the same workmen.
  • In the tissues examined, uncoated fibers outnumbered coated fibers (asbestos bodies) by substantial amounts.
  • Table 4 counts: lung bodies and fibers were above 99 in all five cases, where counting stopped. Liver: 0 to 3 bodies and 1 to 5 fibers (4 cases). Pancreas: 2 to 7 bodies and 10 to 48 fibers (3 cases). Kidney: 0 or 1 body, with fibers of 47, above 99, 69 and 60 (4 cases). Adrenal: 0 bodies and 5 fibers (1 case). Spleen: 15 bodies and 30 fibers (1 case).
  • Electron microscopy of extrapulmonary tissues also showed uncoated fibers, at concentrations significantly lower than in lung tissues.
  • The author's laboratory found chrysotile asbestos fibers in all Greenland polar ice cap samples examined up to that time.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that inhaled asbestos fiber spreads throughout the body, although far fewer fibers come to rest in organs outside the lung than are trapped in lung tissue.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author described the light microscopy tissue study as very limited.
  • The author stated that the affected tissues had not yet been examined systematically.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Immunohistochemical distribution of tubulin beta II in human normal and neoplastic tissues — E. Oda, Y. Nakamura, et al. (2005)
• Analysis and interpretation of inorganic mineral particles in "lung" tissues — A.R. Gibbs, F.D. Pooley (1996)
• Latency periods in neoplastic diseases — A.P. Polednak (1974)
• Inorganic particles of agricultural origin — K. Kay (1974)
• Asbestos fibers in human pulmonary and extrapulmonary tissues — J. Huang, N. Hisanaga, et al. (1988)
• The epidemiologic evidence for elongate mineral particle (EMP)-related human cancer risk — P. Boffetta, K.A. Mundt, et al. (2018)

Browse more research in Environmental Health Perspectives, or return to medical research.