Lymphocyte subsets in subjects exposed to asbestos: changes in circulating natural killer cells

Our plain-English summary of Lymphocyte subsets in subjects exposed to asbestos: changes in circulating natural killer cells, by P.J. Borm, P.F. Schins (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1993).

The study

• Authors: P.J. Borm, P.F. Schins
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1993;50(6):575
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a research study. The authors, from the University of Limburg in Maastricht, commented on a 1992 paper by Jarad and colleagues about natural killer cells (CD16 positive cells) in the blood of asbestos-exposed workers with and without asbestosis. As the letter describes that paper, it found no difference in CD16 cells between the two exposed groups, but found fewer CD16 cells with longer exposure across all exposed workers. The letter writers argued that only a prospective follow-up study could show whether these cells predict cancer. They also argued that fibre-years would measure dose better than duration, and that the cell counts might reflect asbestos dose or asbestosis rather than susceptibility. They concluded that Jarad and colleagues' suggestions should be considered with reservation. In a printed reply, the original authors stated there was no significant difference in exposure duration between their two groups. They said fibre concentrations could not be determined retrospectively, and that they had not claimed definite proof but had raised hypotheses from a cross-sectional study.

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: Letter to the editor (correspondence) commenting on a published cross-sectional study, followed by a reply from that study's authors
• Who was studied: No subjects were studied by the letter writers. The letter discusses the study by Jarad et al of asbestos-exposed workers with asbestosis and without asbestosis.
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure (no fiber type named), measured in the discussed study as duration of exposure. The letter writers argued fibre-years should be used instead.
• Main results:
  • As described by the letter writers, the Jarad et al study reported no difference in CD16 cell number or proportion between exposed workers with and without asbestosis. In the whole asbestos group, CD16 positive cells decreased with increasing duration of exposure.
  • In their reply, the original study's authors stated there was no significant difference in duration of exposure between asbestos workers with asbestosis and those without. The mean durations are printed in a form damaged by scanning and cannot be read reliably.
• The authors' conclusion: The letter writers concluded that the Jarad et al suggestions should be viewed with reservation. In their view, CD16 cell counts could be an index of asbestos dose or asbestosis rather than an indicator of susceptibility, and follow-up studies are needed to test the predictive power of such markers.

Related studies

• Lymphocyte subsets in subjects exposed to asbestos: changes in circulating natural killer cells — N. al Jarad, M. Macey, et al. (1992)
• Increased frequency of circulating invariant natural killer T cells in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients — E. Altomare, S. Fallarini, et al. (2012)
• Functional Alteration of Natural Killer Cells and Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes upon Asbestos Exposure and in Malignant Mesothelioma Patients — Y. Nishimura, N. Kumagai-Takei, et al. (2015)
• Asbestos exposure correlates with alterations in circulating T cell subsets — L.G. Miller, D. Sparrow, et al. (1983)
• Monoclonal antibody HBME-1 reacts with a minor subset of B cells with villous surface and can be useful in the diagnosis of hairy cell leukemia and other indolent lymphoproliferations of villous B lymphocytes — L. Krenács, J. Tóth-Lipták, et al. (2013)
• Asbestos and cancer: human natural killer cell activity is suppressed by asbestos fibers but can be restored by recombinant interleukin-2 — B.W. Robinson (1989)

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