Authors: Sanqiao Yao Liying Wang Rojanasakul Zhiyuan Chen Yingjun Xu Yuping Bai Gang Chen Xiying Zhang Chunmin Zhang Yanqin Yu Fuhai Shen Juxiang Yuan Jie Chen Qincheng He
Publish Date: 2011/09/11
Volume: 16, Issue: 12, Pages: 1195-
Abstract
In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that lung cell apoptosis is associated with lung fibrosis however the relationship between apoptosis of alveolar macrophages AMs and human silicosis has not been addressed In the present study AM apoptosis was determined in wholelung lavage fluid from 48 male silicosis patients 13 male observers and 13 male healthy volunteers The relationships between apoptosis index AI and silica exposure history soluble Fas sFas/membranebound Fas mFas and caspase3/caspase8 were analyzed AI mFas and caspase3 were significantly higher in lung lavage fluids from silicosis patients than those of observers or healthy volunteers but the level of sFas demonstrated a decreasing trend AI was related to silica exposure upregulation of mFas and activation of caspase3 and 8 as well as influenced by smoking status after adjusting for confounding factors These results indicate that AM apoptosis could be used as a potential biomarker for human silicosis and the Fas/FasL pathway may regulate this process The present data from human lung lavage samples may help to understand the mechanism of silicosis and in turn lead to strategies for preventing or treating this diseaseWe would like to acknowledge the other staff from the Department of Pneumoconiosis of “Beidaihe Sanatorium for China Coal Miners” for wholelung lavage and also appreciate those who assisted us at Hebei United University and China Medical University We also would like to give thanks to BioMed Proofreading LLC for their careful copy editing The programs were supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China 30671741 Pneumoconiosis Treatment Foundation for China Coal Miners 200503 and Science and Technology Support Program of Hebei Province 09276196D
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