The development of MM is strongly correlated with exposure to asbestos and erionite, as well as to simian virus 40”

Our plain-English summary of The development of MM is strongly correlated with exposure to asbestos and erionite, as well as to simian virus 40”, by L.D. Assis, M.C. Isoldi (Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia, 2014).

The study

• Authors: L.D. Assis, M.C. Isoldi
• Journal: Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia
• Published: 2014;40(5):586-7
• Type of article: Comment
• Language: Portuguese
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This is a letter, not a study. It is the authors' reply to comments by Dr. Eduardo Algranti on their earlier review of malignant mesothelioma (MM), and it reported no new data. The authors agreed with Dr. Algranti that a sentence in their abstract, saying MM 'is strongly correlated with exposure to asbestos and erionite, as well as to simian virus 40' (SV40), was incorrect. They explained that journal editing had changed their original wording. They said they would ask the journal to correct the sentence to say that MM is correlated with exposure to asbestos and other factors, such as erionite and SV40. They agreed it was incorrect to claim a strong correlation between SV40 and MM. On chrysotile asbestos, the authors agreed that its carcinogenic potential is lower than that of amphibole asbestos and said its dangers cannot be ignored. They noted that the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies all types of asbestos as carcinogenic to humans. They maintained, as their opinion, that there is controversy rather than consensus about chrysotile's role in MM in humans.

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 (authors' reply to a critique of their earlier review article); no new data
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, chrysotile versus amphibole asbestos (including contamination of chrysotile with crocidolite), erionite, and simian virus 40 (SV40), discussed in relation to malignant mesothelioma
• Main results:
  • The authors agreed with Dr. Algranti that their published abstract sentence linking MM strongly to asbestos, erionite and SV40 was incorrect.
  • The authors said the sentence had read differently before the journal edited their article.
  • The authors stated they would ask the journal to correct the abstract sentence.
  • The authors agreed it is incorrect to say there is a strong correlation between SV40 and MM. Quoting their own earlier work, they described SV40 as a co-carcinogen acting together with asbestos.
  • The authors agreed that chrysotile asbestos has lower carcinogenic potential than amphibole asbestos.
  • The authors noted, citing another source, that chrysotile asbestos can be contaminated with crocidolite asbestos.
  • The authors noted that their original article stated that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies all types of asbestos as carcinogenic to humans. They also said the dangers of chrysotile cannot be ignored.
  • In the authors' opinion, there is no consensus on chrysotile asbestos and MM.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors accepted that the SV40 wording in their abstract was wrong. They stood by their statement that the role of chrysotile asbestos in humans is a matter of controversy rather than consensus.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that their original article focused on the molecular bases of MM and deliberately did not go into the controversy over chrysotile asbestos.

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: erionite.

Related studies

• Simian virus 40, poliovaccines and human tumors: a review of recent developments — M. Carbone, P. Rizzo, et al. (1997)
• Simian virus-40 large-T antigen binds p53 in human mesotheliomas — M. Carbone, P. Rizzo, et al. (1997)
• Human mesothelial cells are unusually susceptible to simian virus 40-mediated transformation and asbestos cocarcinogenicity — M. Bocchetta, I. Di Resta, et al. (2000)
• The retinoblastoma gene family pRb/p105, p107, pRb2/p130 and simian virus-40 large T-antigen in human mesotheliomas — A. De Luca, A. Baldi, et al. (1997)
• Simian virus 40 large T antigen (SV40LTAg) primer specific DNA amplification in human pleural mesothelioma tissue — C. Pepper, B. Jasani, et al. (1996)
• Progressive aberrant methylation of the RASSF1A gene in simian virus 40 infected human mesothelial cells — S. Toyooka, M. Carbone, et al. (2002)

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