Ovarian cancer and asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Ovarian cancer and asbestos, by J. Graham, R. Graham (Environmental Research, 1967).

The study

• Authors: J. Graham, R. Graham
• Journal: Environmental Research
• Published: 1967;1(2):115-28
• Cited by: 84 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001480).

In plain English

This 1967 paper from the Department of Gynecology at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo combined animal experiments with microscope studies of human ovaries. The authors injected a watery suspension of tremolite asbestos into the abdominal cavity of mice, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits, with the study ending at week 18. No ovarian abnormalities were found in 19 hamsters or 18 mice. The authors suggested that in these two species a covering of peritoneum may keep injected material from reaching the ovary. Two of 10 injected rabbits and 2 of 16 injected guinea pigs developed abnormal changes in the surface layer of the ovary, which the authors likened to early ovarian cancer lesions in women. Ten uninjected rabbits and 16 uninjected guinea pigs showed no abnormalities. Separately, the authors examined tissue from 12 human ovaries with borderline or microinvasive cancer under polarized light. Six contained clusters of cells around crystals, but the crystals were not identified. Normal ovaries from 9 patients showed none. The authors concluded that this circumstantial evidence associates asbestos with ovarian cancer, noted numerous gaps, and called for further work.

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: Animal experiment (intraperitoneal injection in four species with uninjected controls), plus microscopic examination of human ovarian tissue under polarized light
• Who was studied: Animals: Swiss mice (18 injected), Syrian hamsters (19 injected), guinea pigs (16 injected, 16 controls), Dutch rabbits (10 injected, 10 controls), with 3 control mice and 3 noninjected hamsters. Humans: stained sections from 12 ovaries showing borderline or microinvasive carcinoma, and normal ovaries from 9 patients.
• Exposure: Tremolite asbestos. 10 gm was stirred with 400 cc of tap water and allowed to settle, and the cloudy fluid on top was injected into the abdominal cavity. Doses were 0.1 cc in mice, 0.2 cc in hamsters, 0.5 cc in guinea pigs and 1.0 cc in rabbits. There was a single initial injection, then weekly injections from week 10 until week 18.
• Main results:
  • No ovarian abnormalities were found in 19 injected hamsters or 18 injected mice. Control hamsters and mice were identical to the injected animals.
  • The authors suggested that in mice and hamsters the ovary is covered by peritoneum, which makes it inaccessible to injected material.
  • Rabbits: 2 of 10 injected rabbits showed abnormal changes on the ovarian surface (one at week 6, one at week 16). The 10 uninjected control rabbits showed no abnormalities.
  • Guinea pigs: 2 of 16 injected guinea pigs showed abnormalities (at weeks 7 and 17), described as a change to a multilayered surface with very abnormal cells. The 16 uninjected guinea pigs showed no ovarian abnormalities.
  • Rabbits killed in week 18 had numerous asbestos fibers and much foreign body reaction. Animals killed earlier had no visible fibers.
  • Human ovaries: in 6 of the 12 ovaries with borderline or microinvasive carcinoma, polarized light showed foci of histiocytes and foreign body giant cells around intact crystals, mostly near abnormal surface changes. Normal ovaries from 9 patients showed no crystalline material.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that this web of circumstantial evidence associates asbestos with ovarian cancer. They noted numerous gaps but considered the observations suggestive enough to encourage further work on a possible causal relationship.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The crystals found in the human ovaries were not identified.
  • The authors described polarized light as a simple and rather crude method for detecting asbestos.
  • The authors acknowledged numerous gaps in the evidence.
  • The significance of the surface abnormalities without invasion of the underlying tissue is unknown.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Ovarian cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Ovarian Cancer.

Related studies

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• Expression of calretinin in human ovary, testis, and ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors — Q.J. Cao, J.G. Jones, et al. (2001)
• PAX8 Expression in a Subset of Malignant Peritoneal Mesotheliomas and Benign Mesothelium has Diagnostic Implications in the Differential Diagnosis of Ovarian Serous Carcinoma — D.B. Chapel, A.N. Husain, et al. (2017)
• Possible role of ovarian epithelial inflammation in ovarian cancer — R.B. Ness, C. Cottreau (1999)
• Asbestos fibers in ovarian tissue from Norwegian pulp and paper workers — H. Langseth, B.V. Johansen, et al. (2007)

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