New Clues to Why Only Some Develop Mesothelioma
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- Created on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 14:24
Those who advocated on behalf of victims of mesothelioma are often confronted with a basic question, not just from the individual suffering from mesothelioma, but from their friends, family, and even co-workers. That question, usually follows the track of: “I worked with 50 different people who all did the same thing I did. Why did I get this disease and they didn’t?” Often times, in talking to co-workers, the question will be the reverse, “Why didn’t I get mesothelioma, and my co-worker did?” These questions have long stumped researchers as to why people who do the same jobs, and suffer the same exposure to asbestos, may have different outcomes when it comes to developing a disease.
A group of Italian researchers has recently authored a publication that may help shed some light on the subject. Their study sought to determine whether genetic mutations of cells may play some role in an individual being more susceptible to developing mesothleioma. The researchers focused on pleural mesothelioma, and its contemplated association with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of oxidative and xenobiotic metabolism enzymes. The researchers identified a DNA repair gene, XRCC1, with the incidence of high pleural mesothelioma rates in the Italian town of Casale Monferrato. Casale Monferrato was known to have a high exposure rate to asbestos.
To confirm this hypothesis of the relation of the DNA repair gene to pleural mesothleioma, the researchers extended their view of the SNPs in 15 genes that they believed could potentially be involved in the development of pleural mesothelioma. The researchers conducted tests in Casale (151 patients with pleural mesothelioma, 252 non-diagnosed controls) and Turin (69 patients with pleural mesothelioma, 44 non-diagnosed controls). The researchers then used a technique call multivariate logistic regression to evaluate the data. Multivariate logistic regression is a form of statistical analysis that attempts to evaluate the interplay of numerous possible variables to determine the actual role and interplay those variables have on the result. It involves the simultaneous analysis and observation of the multiple variables. The result of the analysis was an estimated odds ration and 95% confidence interval.
The results demonstrated that there were two possible DNA repair genes that could be associated with those patients suffering from pleural mesothelioma as opposed to the controls. These DNA repair genes were XRCC1 and ERCC1. The researchers found that those exposed to asbestos had an increase risk of developing pleural mesothelioma in conjunction with the increasing number of XRCC1-399Q alleles. They also found that there was a significant connection between the development of pleural mesothelioma and the haplotype XRCC1-TGGGGGAACAGA. The researchers further noted an increased risk for those with heterozygotes for ERCC1 N118N. Their findings supported the hypothesis that for those individuals exposed to asbestos, who are susceptible to DNA damage, there is an increased risk of developing pleural mesothelioma.
These findings are significant in that they attempt to explain the question as to why some individuals exposed to asbestos develop mesothelioma, and some do not. These finding may also lay the groundwork for future research into the treatment of the disease. Perhaps most importantly, these findings may result in new screening procedures to identify those who have these DNA repair susceptibility conditions who have worked with or around asbestos, and may result in more frequent screenings which could lead to an early diagnosis of the disease. Mesothelioma, as with all cancers, is more responsive to treatment the earlier the disease is detected. Though not in existence currently, this study could result in new genetic testing of designer medications designed to repair these DNA gene repair faults, which could someday help to prevent the development of mesothelioma in those exposed to asbestos.
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
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