Serum neopterin in workers exposed to inorganic dust containing free crystalline silicon dioxide

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The study was conducted among 92 male workers, divided into two groups depending on workplace and level of inorganic dust containing free crystalline SiO2 in the work environment, and 43 healthy workers without exposure to dust aerosols. The measured inhalable and respirable dust concentrations, as well as the concentration of free crystalline silica (FCS) in the respirable fraction were different for the two groups, but the percentage of free crystalline silica in the respirable fraction was almost identical. Significantly higher neopterin levels were found in workers exposed to dust, compared to the control group: 12.72 nmol/L and 6.32 nmol/L respectively (p&lt;0.05). No significant difference was found between serum neopterin levels in both groups of the exposed workers. Among the groups with different length of service, a statistically higher neopterin level was evident only in the workers with length of service less than 10 years (p&lt;0.05). The correlation analysis did not find a significant dependence of neopterin levels on the age of the studied workers or on the duration of smoking in packet years. The difference between neopterin levels in smokers and non-smokers was nonsignificant. The results obtained show that increased neopterin levels in the exposed workers are not influenced by individual features, duration and level of exposure to inorganic dust, but mostly by the presence of FCS in the respirable fraction.</jats:p>

Immunomodulation and Oxidative Stress in Denim Sandblasting Workers: Changes Caused by Silica Exposure

“…Saito et al (29) used neopterin as a marker of activated alveolar macrophages in patients suffering from interstitial pulmonary diseases. In this paper, neopterin concentrations were increased not only in silicosis patients compared to controls, as in previous papers (28,30), but also in workers with a classifi ed progression of the pathology (Figure 1). Our results confi rm that silica exposure activates cellular immunity as well as that the progression of this immune reaction is positively correlated with the progression of disease severity as mentioned before.…”

“…Silica affects humoral and cellular immune responses and may have systemic effects while in the lungs and regional lymph nodes. Several lines of evidence support the view that the pathogenesis of silicosis involves uncontrolled immune processes (13,28). It is widely believed that the pathogenesis of fi brotic responses evoked by particulates involves the generation of macrophage-derived growth factor(s) that stimulate proliferation and collagen synthesis by fi broblastic cells in the lungs (15).…”

The effect of vitamin C on amiodarone-induced toxicity in rat thymocytes

“…Such observations are consistent with findings that ascorbic acid prevents apoptosis by upregulating the Bcl-2 protein expression in various cell types [31] and also those of our recent report in rat thymocytes [32]. By detoxifying ROS, antioxidants may thereby reverse the ROS-induced decline in Bcl-2 and prevent cellular death [29,33,34,35].…”

Serum Neopterin as a Biomarker for Silicosis Among Clay Brick Industry Workers

“…Also there was a statistically significant negative correlation of Neopterin with the predicted percentage FEV1 (r=-0.45), FVC (r= -0.51) and FEV1/FVC (r= -0.41) (Table 3). These findings were in agreement with that of Prakova et al (2009) who found that serum Neopterin level was higher among coal mine workers who were exposed to free CS than controls and they concluded that exposure to free CS is associated with activation of cellular immunity and particularly macrophages.…”