Multiple modes of action of asbestos and related mineral fibers

Our plain-English summary of Multiple modes of action of asbestos and related mineral fibers, by M.R. Gwinn (Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part B, Critical Reviews, 2011).

The study

• Author: M.R. Gwinn
• Journal: Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part B, Critical Reviews
• Published: 2011;14(1-4):1-2
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

This two-page introduction, written by a scientist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), presented a journal issue of review articles on the mode of action of asbestos and related mineral fibers. The reviews came from a National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) workshop held in December 2009. The workshop was supported by NIEHS, the National Toxicology Program, the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its main goal was to review current knowledge of the mechanisms behind asbestos-induced health outcomes and to define data gaps and research needs. The author noted that the term "asbestos" is defined differently across scientific disciplines, which makes it hard to compare studies. Asbestos may also act through more than one mode of action, with different modes for outcomes such as interstitial fibrosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Fiber length, width, chemical composition, durability, surface area and surface reactivity were listed as determinants of toxicity that likely act in combination. Open questions included the role of short versus long fibers, the movement of fibers to tissues outside the lung, and the differing potencies of fiber types. The reviews were grouped by pulmonary, pleural and nonpulmonary endpoints, and by susceptibility, genotoxicity and environmental exposures. Workshop participants agreed that the remaining data gaps should be addressed by a structured, interdisciplinary, well-funded research program.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This two-page article was not a research study and reported no new data. It was an introduction to a set of review papers in the same journal issue, written by an author at the US Environmental Protection Agency. The reviews came out of a December 2009 workshop of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The workshop looked at current knowledge of the "mode of action" of asbestos, meaning the chain of events, starting when fibers interact with cells, that may lead to disease. The author wrote that the word "asbestos" means different things in different scientific fields, which makes studies hard to compare. The author stated that it is difficult to define a single mode of action for asbestos. The author listed fiber length, width, chemical composition, durability, surface area and surface reactivity as determinants of toxicity, and wrote that there is no consensus on which are key. Workshop participants agreed that the remaining data gaps should be addressed by a structured, interdisciplinary, well-funded research program.

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: Introductory editorial summarizing a workshop and introducing a series of review articles; no original data
• Who was studied: No study subjects. The article describes a workshop held in December 2009 on the state of the science for the mode of action of asbestos.
• Exposure: Asbestos and related mineral fibers in general. The author lists fiber characteristics considered determinants of toxicity: length, width, chemical composition, durability, surface areas and surface reactivity.
• Main results:
  • The author stated that differences in how 'asbestos' is defined between scientific disciplines make it difficult to compare studies.
  • The author stated that it is difficult to define one mode of action for asbestos, and that several may apply to different health outcomes, such as interstitial fibrosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
  • The author stated that there is no consensus on which fiber characteristics are the key determinants of toxicity.
  • Workshop participants agreed that remaining data gaps should be addressed by a structured, interdisciplinary, well-funded research program.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that many questions about the role of specific fiber characteristics in disease still remain despite decades of research, and that many data gaps exist.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mineral Fiber, Interstitial Fibrosis, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Fiber Length, Surface Reactivity, Genotoxicity, Environmental Exposure.

Related studies

• Meeting report: mode(s) of action of asbestos and related mineral fibers — M.R. Gwinn, D. DeVoney, et al. (2011)
• Exposure to naturally occurring mineral fibers due to off-road vehicle use: A review — C. Wolfe, B. Buck, et al. (2017)
• Morphological and chemical mechanisms of elongated mineral particle toxicities — A.E. Aust, P.M. Cook, et al. (2011)
• Biological mechanisms of non-linear dose-response for respirable mineral fibers — L.A.T. Cox (2018)
• Mechanisms of action of poorly soluble particulates in overload-related lung pathology — B.T. Mossman (2000)
• Airborne fiber concentration and size distribution of mineral fibers in area with serpentinite outcrops in Aichi prefecture, Japan — K. Sakai, N. Hisanaga, et al. (2001)

Browse more research in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part B, Critical Reviews, or return to medical research.