Asbestos Exposure, Pleural Mesothelioma, and Serum Osteopontin Levels

Abstract

Serum osteopontin levels can be used to distinguish persons with exposure to asbestos who do not have cancer from those with exposure to asbestos who have pleural mesothelioma.

Osteopontin-mediated enhanced hyaluronan binding induces multidrug resistance in mesothelioma cells

“…Moreover, the acquisition of chemoresistance by HA-CD44 interaction could be advantage for MPM cells to protect themselves by anti-cancer agents. These ideas are supported by previous reports which demonstrated MPM to be associated with elevated levels of OPN and HA in the pleural effusion (Thylen et al, 1997;Pass et al, 2005;Grigoriu et al, 2007).…”

“…For instance, it has been reported that small cell lung cancer cells, myeloma cells, glioma cells and colon cancer cells were protected from apoptosis induced by various anticancer agents when the cells were plated on ECM (Damiano et al, 1999;Sethi et al, 1999;Uhm et al, 1999;Kouniavsky et al, 2002). MPM cells are surrounded by pleural effusion, which contains a variety of ECM including hyaluronate (HA) and osteopontin (OPN) (Thylen et al, 1997;Pass et al, 2005;Grigoriu et al, 2007). The ability to grow in pleural fluid suggests that the MPM cells are capable of surviving and proliferating against apoptosis under the influence of this particular microenvironment.…”

“…OPN has been associated with cancer progression, metastasis and apoptosis (Rangaswami et al, 2006). Several studies have revealed elevated levels of OPN in serum and pleural effusion to be observed in patients with MPM (Pass et al, 2005;Grigoriu et al, 2007), thus suggesting the involvement of OPN in the pathogenesis of MPM. In fact, OPN was recently demonstrated to mediate MPM cell proliferation and migration (Ohashi et al, 2009).…”

Eighth International Mesothelioma Interest Group

“…In a multivariate analysis, SUV greater than 10, stage III and IV disease and nonepithelioid histology were associated with poor survival. (Robinson et al, 2003) and osteopontin (OPN) (Pass et al, 2005) were the subject of a number of investigations presented at the meeting.…”

Mesothelioma in an HIV/AIDS patient without history of asbestos exposure: possible role for immunosuppression in mesothelioma: a case report

“…In an effort to identify occupational mesothelioma earlier during disease progression, high-risk workers can be screened for abnormal serum osteopontin levels, since this is routinely elevated in mesothelioma. Although serum osteopontin may also be elevated in other forms of cancer, Pass et al demonstrated that serum osteopontin has a 77.7% sensitivity and 85.5% specificity for mesothelioma[10]. Finally, we hope this report will stimulate clinicians to consider the possibility of mesothelioma in cases where lung cancer is coupled with immunosuppression.…”