Oxidative status and acute phase reactants in patients with environmental asbestos exposure and mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Oxidative status and acute phase reactants in patients with environmental asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, by C. Sezgi, M. Taylan, H.S. Sen, et al (TheScientificWorldJournal, 2014).

The study

• Authors: C. Sezgi, M. Taylan, H.S. Sen, O. Evliyaoğlu, H. Kaya, O. Abakay, A. Abakay, A.C. Tanrıkulu, A. Senyiğit
• Journal: TheScientificWorldJournal
• Published: 2014;2014:902748
• Cited by: 11 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Background And Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate inflammatory indicators and oxidative status in patients with asbestos exposure with and without mesothelioma and to compare results with data from healthy subjects.

Methods: Eighty people with exposure to environmental asbestos and without any disease, 46 mesothelioma patients, and a control group of 50 people without exposure to environmental asbestos were enrolled in this prospective study. Serum total oxidant level (TOL), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and oxidative stress index (OSI), CRP, transferrin, ceruloplasmin, α-1 antitrypsin, ferritin, and copper levels were measured.

Results: Mesothelioma group exhibited higher TOL, OSI, α1-antitrypsin, ferritin and copper levels as compared to the other groups (P < 0.001, P = 0.007, P < 0.0001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, resp.). Transferrin was lower in the mesothelioma group than in the other two groups (P < 0.001). The asbestos group had higher TOL, TAC, α1-antitrypsin, and transferrin levels (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, resp.), as well as lower OSI and ferritin levels as compared to the control group (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001).

Conclusions: We believe that elevated acute phase reactants and oxidative stress markers (TOL and OSI) in the mesothelioma group can be used as predictive markers for the development of asbestos-related malignancy.

In plain English

Researchers at Dicle University in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, compared blood markers of oxidative stress (an imbalance between harmful oxygen-based molecules and the body's defences) and inflammation in three groups. The groups were 80 villagers with more than 20 years of environmental asbestos exposure and no disease on chest X-ray, 46 patients with malignant mesothelioma, and 50 healthy people from an area where soil analysis found no asbestos. In this region, asbestos-containing soil was used for thermal insulation and waterproofing on roofs and walls, as a whitewash or wall-plaster material. Compared with the other two groups, the mesothelioma group had higher total oxidant level, oxidative stress index, alpha-1 antitrypsin, ferritin and copper, and lower transferrin. Its average C-reactive protein was 75.6 mg/dL, against 4.4 in exposed villagers and 2.8 in controls. Compared with controls, exposed villagers had higher total oxidant level, total antioxidant capacity, alpha-1 antitrypsin and transferrin, and lower oxidative stress index. The authors believed that the raised acute phase reactants, total oxidant level and oxidative stress index in the mesothelioma group could serve as predictive markers for asbestos-related malignancy. They called for further prospective studies with long-term follow-up; the methods describe this study as cross-sectional.

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: Cross-sectional comparison of blood markers in three groups (the abstract calls it prospective)
• Who was studied: 80 villagers with more than 20 years of environmental asbestos exposure and no disease on chest X-ray; 46 malignant mesothelioma patients followed at the university's pulmonology department; 50 healthy controls of similar age and sex from an area with no asbestos found in soil analysis. Mean ages were 58.9 (mesothelioma), 61.7 (asbestos) and 58.3 (controls).
• Exposure: Lifelong environmental exposure from inhaling asbestos-containing soil used for thermal insulation and waterproofing on roofs and walls, described as whitewash-wall plaster material. Age was taken as exposure duration. No fiber type is named.
• Main results:
  • The mesothelioma group had higher total oxidant level, oxidative stress index, alpha-1 antitrypsin, ferritin and copper than the asbestos-exposed and control groups (mean oxidative stress index 898.6 vs 112.8 in the asbestos group and 159.3 in controls).
  • Transferrin was lower in the mesothelioma group (171.2 g/L) than in the asbestos (282.8) and control (216.9) groups.
  • Total antioxidant capacity was lower in the mesothelioma group than in the asbestos group, and similar in the mesothelioma and control groups (p = 0.074).
  • Compared with controls, the asbestos-exposed group had higher total oxidant level, total antioxidant capacity, alpha-1 antitrypsin and transferrin, and lower oxidative stress index and ferritin.
  • C-reactive protein was comparable in the asbestos (mean 4.4 mg/dL) and control (2.8 mg/dL) groups and significantly higher in the mesothelioma group (75.6 mg/dL).
• The authors' conclusion: The authors believed that elevated acute phase reactants and oxidative stress markers (TOL and OSI) in the mesothelioma group can be used as predictive markers for the development of asbestos-related malignancy.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that further prospective studies with long-term follow-up of exposed people are needed to understand how well these markers predict mesothelioma.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Oxidative Stress, Ferritin.

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