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Query: UMLS:C0037116 (silicosis)
 1,822 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure have been reported to alter the tumor-killing activity of blood natural killer (NK) cells. However, NK cell function in relation to silica dust exposure has not been examined. We studied blood NK cell number, percentage, and tumoricidal activity in 120 hardrock miners, 57 of whom had radiographic evidence of silicosis, and in 33 community controls. There was a significant increase in leukocyte count and lymphocyte count in current smokers compared with former and never smokers, but these cell counts were normal in silicotics and those with silica dust exposure. No significant differences in NK cell (CD16+) number or percentage were found by flow cytometric analysis of smoking or dust exposure groups. Surprisingly, NK tumoricidal activity was significantly higher in cigarette smokers compared with former smokers and never smoker control subjects. Although tumoricidal activity was elevated in silicotics, this was accounted for by their cigarette smoking. These results suggest that cigarette smoking is associated with elevation of blood NK cell tumoricidal activity on a per cell basis, in the absence of any alteration in the absolute number of NK cells in blood.
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PMID:Natural killer cell tumoricidal activity in cigarette smokers and in silicotics. 186 16

The International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) has recently stated that crystalline silica should be regarded as a potential carcinogen. The IARC bases this statement on a finding that there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence for carcinogenicity in animals. Recent laboratory animal experiments demonstrating a carcinogenic response to silica exposure have intensified scientific and regulatory concern for crystalline silica as a respiratory carcinogen. Studies of human populations have been contradictory in demonstrating a causal relationship between crystalline silica exposure and lung cancer. This paper reviews recent experimental evidence and attempts to identify the gaps and inconsistencies in our understanding of the relationship between exposure to crystalline silica and the two diseases of concern: silicosis and pulmonary neoplasia. Given our current level of understanding and the need for more scientific data it seems premature to initiate changes in exposure regulations at this time.
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PMID:Crystalline silica and lung cancer: a review of recent experimental evidence. 207 59

The results of two epidemiologic investigations on dust-related lung diseases are presented. The two studies had different aims and designs. A cross-sectional study was done to investigate the silicosis prevalence in Dutch fine ceramic workers. In the small ceramic workshops in the Gouda region, simple pneumoconiosis is still commonly present (13.3%), whereas the silicosis prevalence in the highly mechanized industries is low (1.7%). Furthermore, heavy smoking seems to enhance the risk for silicosis after long-term exposure to quartz. A case-control study was performed to analyze the relation between dust exposure in the fine ceramic and coal mining industries and lung cancer. No relation between a work history in the dusty trades and lung cancer emerged, and a correlation with a specific histologic tumor cell type could not be demonstrated. Apparently, workers in the Dutch fine ceramic or coal mining industry have no increased risk of developing lung malignancies.
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PMID:Epidemiologic studies of inorganic dust-related lung diseases in The Netherlands. 230 46

Terlipressin (Glypressin) is a "pro-hormone"; after intravenous injection the glycyl radicals are slowly cleaved by enzymatic action, liberating vasopressin. We have assessed the efficacy of terlipressin in the treatment of severe hemoptysis. The study was performed on 20 patients: in 5 cases there was very copious hemoptysis and in 15 cases there was repeated hemoptysis of lesser volume. The cause was distributed as follows: 6 cases of neoplasms, 5 were sequelae of tuberculosis, bronchial dilatation 2 cases, pneumonia with abscess 2 cases, chronic airflow obstruction (COPD) 2 cases and 3 cases of silicosis. The treatment consisted of a slow intravenous injection of 2 mgm 4 times per day (9 patients), then in 11 patients an injection of 2 mgm at the time of acute episodes followed by 1 mgm every 6 hours. The patients received an average of between 15 and 20 mgm of the product for a treatment lasting over 5 days at the maximum. The results were as follows: total success 12 cases; partial success (a reduction to at least one-third of the initial hemoptysis): 5 cases; failure: 3 cases. The failures were linked in two cases to neoplastic disease and in one case there was an intolerance to the drug which did not allow the treatment to be pursued.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Treatment of severe hemoptysis with terlipressin. Study of the efficacy and tolerance of this product]. 279 45

The computed tomographic (CT) appearance of interstitial lung disease was assessed in 23 patients with known interstitial disease. These included seven patients with fibrosing alveolitis, six with silicosis, two with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, three with lymphangitic spread of tumor, two with sarcoidosis, one with rheumatoid lung disease, and two with neurofibromatosis. The CT appearance of the interstitial changes in the different disease entities was assessed. Nodules were a prominent CT feature in silicosis, sarcoidosis, and lymphangitic spread of malignancy. Distribution of nodules and associated interlobular septal thickening provided further distinguishing features in these diseases. Reticular densities were the predominant CT change in fibrosing alveolitis, rheumatoid lung disease, and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. A marked peripheral predominance of the interstitial densities was seen in all seven cases of fibrosing alveolitis and in the patient with rheumatoid lung, in marked contrast with the two cases of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in whom a central distribution of the changes was seen. The observed patterns correlate with the pathologic findings and provide information that at times cannot be obtained from the chest radiograph. CT can be useful in the investigation of selected instances of interstitial pulmonary disease.
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PMID:CT in the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease. 392 66

A clinicopathological analysis was carried out on 16 cases of lung cancer complicated by silicosis, which were diagnosed from April 1975 to March 1983, and the results were discussed with a review of the literature. All of the patients were male, and a smoking habit with a Brinkman index of more than 500 was found in 14 of them (87.5%). Twelve cases (75.0%) had advanced tumors of clinical stages III and IV, suggesting that the early detection of lung cancer complicated by silicosis is difficult. Tumors were uniformly found in all lobes of the lung. Histological types were mainly epidermoid or undifferentiated carcinoma, with very few adenocarcinomas. Carcinogens from smoking seemed to be responsible for the carcinogenesis. Two cases were thought to be scar carcinomas.
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PMID:Lung cancer complicated by silicosis: a clinical and histopathological study. 399 62

Risk groups with regard to bronchopulmonary precancerous and tumor diseases of occupational origin can be deduced from current occupational disease statistics. Most prominent are those working with asbestos. Each year about 250 asbestos-associated bronchial carcinomas and 400 mesotheliomas are recognized and compensated; the tendency is increasing. Because of the long latency time, the frequency peak will probably be reached in about 15 years in spite of the prohibition of asbestos usage. The second place is probably taken by malignomas among the underground uranium mine workers in Thuringia and Saxony (SDAG Wismut). Next come bronchial carcinomas with silicosis (carcinoma in scar tissue) after exposure to chromium(VI) and arsenic compounds as well as various other chemicals and metals. Dose-activity relationships are significant for all occupational carcinogenic agents, as there are also often syncancerogenic influences (especially smoking). From the data on previous loading, high risk groups, for example, among the insulation workers exposed to asbestos or uranium miners in the so-called "wild years", can be defined. A suitable screening method for the detection of bronchopulmonary tumors in the early stages has not yet been established. Medical checkups for the respective risk groups concentrate on the early X-ray detection of circular foci. As shown by recent studies, cytological sputum diagnosis, (fluorescence) bronchoscopy, and BAL cytology must be employed much more frequently in the high risk groups so that the prognostically more favorable stages of preneoplasm and carcinoma in situ can be detected and possibly treated curatively. These procedures are currently reaching a considerably higher sensitivity with the help of modern molecular biology techniques (e.g. detection of tumor-associated genetic changes and gene products). This contributes to an improvement in surveillance examinations with increasing detection of the curable early forms of tumors. However, only the further development of primary prevention, i.e. the greatest possible minimization or, if possible, total elimination of contact with carcinogenic agents and the consequent control of occupational protection will lead to a drastic reduction in the occupational risk of cancer.
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PMID:[Bronchopulmonary precancerous conditions and tumors--risk groups from the occupational medicine viewpoint]. 784 56

We report the case of a 59-year old patient with the rare combination of silicosis and rheumatoid arthritis, which is called Caplan's syndrome. The patient presented with right heart failure caused by a pericardial tumor compressing the right and the left ventricle. By means of several imaging techniques it was possible to elucidate the topographic relations of the tumor. Definite signs of malignant growth were not found. Despite his elevated perioperative risk we decided to operate on the patient. During the operation macroscopic and histologic evidence revealed that the tumor was not a neoplastic process but consisted of an organized hemopericardium. This demonstrates that pericarditis in rheumatoid arthritis can be hemorrhagic and can mimick a malignant pericardial tumor. The decision to operate was first supported by the findings of the applied imaging techniques, the normal endomyocardial biopsy, and the clinical course and were later confirmed in situ.
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PMID:[Biventricular inflow tract compression by chronic organized hemopericardium in Caplan syndrome]. 792 26

A case of pulmonary silicosis associated with triple lung cancers is presented. Two of the three tumors were unexpected clinically. The discussion deals with the diagnostic difficulty in radiological differentiation between the pneumoconiotic mass lesion and superimposed tumor shadows, as well as the possible causal relationship between the two conditions. From the practical point of view, elderly patients with pneumoconiosis should be carefully monitored for the development of lung cancer.
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PMID:Triple lung cancers in a patient with silicosis. 839 Jul 66

Crystalline silica (quartz) induces silicosis and associated peripheral lung carcinomas in rats. The role and pattern of expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1/beta2 mRNA transcripts were investigated in the fetal rat lung epithelial cell line FRLE, its neoplastic transformants and derived tumors in athymic nude mice. FRLE cells, treated with 100 microgram/cm2 of quartz in serum-free medium, gave rise to phenotypically altered, tumorigenic cells. Quartz-treated, transformed and tumorigenic cells, subcultured directly (QTT-C1) or after growth in soft agar (QTT-C2), formed tumors in athymic nude mice (QTT-T1). Cells subcultured from the tumors (QTT-T1C) were also tumorigenic in nude mice (QTT-T2). QTT-T1 and QTT-T2 tumors were poorly differentiated carcinomas with variable amounts of extracellular matrix-associated TGF-beta1 and desmoplasia. For comparison, a tumorigenic cell line derived from FRLE cells transformed with a mutated K-ras plasmid (RT-C1) and cells subcultured from a corresponding nude mouse tumor (RT-T1) and designated RT-T1C were used. Whereas TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta2 inhibited the growth of QTT-T1C and FRLE cells in a dose-dependent fashion, RT-T1C cells, containing an activated ras gene, were relatively unaffected. TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta2 mRNAs were expressed at higher levels in QTT-T1C cells than in FRLE and TR-T1C cells, and there was an increase in TGF-beta type II receptor (TGR-betaR) mRNA expression in QTT-T1C and RT-T1C cells compared to FRLE cells. Carcinomas in nude mice derived from QTT and RT cells and silicosis-associated lung carcinomas induced in rats by intra-tracheal quartz did not express either active or latent forms of TGF-beta1 protein on immunohistochemistry. The disparity between TGF-beta1 mRNA and TGF-beta1 protein expression in QTT tumors may be due to post-transcriptional regulation of TGF-beta1.
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PMID:Transforming growth factor beta expression and transformation of rat lung epithelial cells by crystalline silica (quartz). 859 16


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