**Acknowledgement**

The authors would like to acknowledge the many members of the staff of the NIOH, both past and present, who contributed to this work. The contribution of Prof JI Phillips is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation.

#### **4. References**


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*National Institute for Occupational Health, National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa Deparatment of Biomedical Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg,* 

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**Chapter 2** 

© 2012 Nishimura et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 Nishimura et al., licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Effect of Asbestos on Anti-Tumor Immunity** 

**and Immunological Alteration in Patients** 

Yasumitsu Nishimura, Megumi Maeda, Naoko Kumagai-Takei, Hidenori Matsuzaki, Suni Lee, Kazuya Fukuoka, Takashi Nakano,

It is well known that malignant mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, which comprises a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals. However, the mechanism by which asbestos causes malignant mesothelioma remains unclear. Many researchers have examined the effect of exposure to asbestos on the body. To date, it has been confirmed that asbestos can cause various forms of damage to cells, including cellular toxicity and mutagenicity, as well as produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Mossman & Churg, 1998; Mossman et al., 1996; Sporn & Roggli, 2004). The levels of oxidized pyrimidine and alkylated bases correlate with the period of occupational exposure to asbestos (Dusinska et al., 2004), and the increase in mutation frequency of lung DNA is caused by instillation of asbestos through the trachea (Topinka et al., 2004). All of these factors are thought to generate the tumorigenic effect of asbestos on mesothelial cells. However, the development of malignant mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos shows the noteworthy characteristics of this condition, which differ from those induced by other toxic materials. Malignant mesothelioma develops under a relatively low or medium dose of exposure to asbestos. A high dose of exposure to asbestos causes the development of pneumoconiosis, i.e., asbestosis rather than mesothelioma. Thus, the development of mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos cannot be explained only by a general rule regarding a dose-response relationship of toxic materials. In addition, it takes a long period of about forty years to develop malignant mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos. These findings suggest the existence of other factors related to the development of malignant mesothelioma that are modified by exposure to asbestos in the body, and which differ from the well-known

**with Malignant Mesothelioma** 

Takumi Kishimoto and Takemi Otsuki

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/33138

**1. Introduction** 

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

