Silica-exposed Patients with Silicosis Show Shorter Telomeres Than Do Unexposed Individuals: a Pilot Study in a Population in Southeastern Brazil

Overview

Journal J Bras Pneumol

Date 2025 Jan 15

PMID 39813504

Authors

Marcos Cesar Santos de Castro

Lucas de Carvalho Costa

Kaio Cezar Rodrigues Salum

Hermano Albuquerque de Castro

Patricia Canto Ribeiro

Walter Costa

Angela Santos Ferreira Nani

Fabiana Barzotto Kohlrausch

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Silicosis is a pneumoconiosis characterized by fibrosis of the lung parenchyma caused by the inhalation of silica particles. Silica dust inhalation is associated with inflammation and induction of oxidative stress in the lungs. This oxidative stress affects telomeres, which are short tandem DNA repeats that cap the end of linear chromosomes. We aimed to determine whether telomere length (TL) correlates with silicosis or severity of silicosis in silica-exposed workers in Brazil.

Methods: We included 200 men in southeastern Brazil: 100 with silicosis and 100 who had not been exposed to silica. We extracted DNA from buccal cells and assessed TL by multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Results: The median TL was significantly shorter in the patients with silicosis than in the unexposed controls (p < 0.0001), although it did not differ between the patients with simple silicosis and those with complicated silicosis (p = 0.961). We also found that, in patients with silicosis, TL was influenced by smoking (p = 0.034) and by a history of personal protective equipment use in the workplace (p = 0.002).

Conclusions: Silica exposure appears to have an impact on TL, which was found to be shorter in patients with silicosis than in unexposed controls. Further studies are needed in order to confirm the impact that oxidative stress caused by silica inhalation has on telomeres.

References

Deb S, Berei J, Miliavski E, Khan M, Broder T, Akurugo T . The Effects of Smoking on Telomere Length, Induction of Oncogenic Stress, and Chronic Inflammatory Responses Leading to Aging. Cells. 2024; 13(11. PMC: 11172003. DOI: 10.3390/cells13110884. View

Xu L, Qiu Z, Cong Y . Comparison of Telomere Length between Buccal Cells and Blood Cells. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2022; 173(5):677-679. DOI: 10.1007/s10517-022-05612-1. View

Fan Y, Zheng C, Wu N, Li Y, Huang X, Ye Q . Telomerase gene variants and telomere shortening in patients with silicosis or asbestosis. Occup Environ Med. 2020; . DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2020-107046. View

Souza T, Watte G, Gusso A, Souza R, Moreira J, Knorst M . Silicosis prevalence and risk factors in semi-precious stone mining in Brazil. Am J Ind Med. 2017; 60(6):529-536. DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22719. View

Cawthon R . Telomere length measurement by a novel monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method. Nucleic Acids Res. 2009; 37(3):e21. PMC: 2647324. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkn1027. View

Leung C, Yu I, Chen W . Silicosis. Lancet. 2012; 379(9830):2008-18. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60235-9. View

Kohlrausch F, Wang F, Chamani I, Keefe D . Telomere Shortening and Fusions: A Link to Aneuploidy in Early Human Embryo Development. Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2021; 76(7):429-436. DOI: 10.1097/OGX.0000000000000907. View

Lan Q, Cawthon R, Gao Y, Hu W, Hosgood 3rd H, Barone-Adesi F . Longer telomere length in peripheral white blood cells is associated with risk of lung cancer and the rs2736100 (CLPTM1L-TERT) polymorphism in a prospective cohort study among women in China. PLoS One. 2013; 8(3):e59230. PMC: 3608613. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059230. View

Singh A, Kukreti R, Saso L, Kukreti S . Oxidative Stress: Role and Response of Short Guanine Tracts at Genomic Locations. Int J Mol Sci. 2019; 20(17). PMC: 6747389. DOI: 10.3390/ijms20174258. View

10.

Barnes R, Fouquerel E, Opresko P . The impact of oxidative DNA damage and stress on telomere homeostasis. Mech Ageing Dev. 2018; 177:37-45. PMC: 6162185. DOI: 10.1016/j.mad.2018.03.013. View

11.

Zhu Y, Meng Y, Zhang Y, Karlsson I, Hagg S, Zhan Y . Genetically determined telomere length and its association with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease in biobank Japan: A Mendelian randomization study. Heliyon. 2024; 10(1):e23415. PMC: 10757031. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23415. View

12.

Finnicum C, Dolan C, Willemsen G, Weber Z, Petersen J, Beck J . Relative Telomere Repeat Mass in Buccal and Leukocyte-Derived DNA. PLoS One. 2017; 12(1):e0170765. PMC: 5268389. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170765. View

13.

Palabiyik S, Girgin G, Tutkun E, Yilmaz O, Baydar T . Immunomodulation and oxidative stress in denim sandblasting workers: changes caused by silica exposure. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol. 2013; 64(3):431-7. DOI: 10.2478/10004-1254-64-2013-2312. View

14.

Qian Y, Ding T, Wei L, Cao S, Yang L . Shorter telomere length of T-cells in peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer. Onco Targets Ther. 2016; 9:2675-82. PMC: 4863689. DOI: 10.2147/OTT.S98488. View

15.

Champlin J, Edwards R, Pipavath S . Imaging of Occupational Lung Disease. Radiol Clin North Am. 2016; 54(6):1077-1096. DOI: 10.1016/j.rcl.2016.05.015. View

16.

Shen M, Cawthon R, Rothman N, Weinstein S, Virtamo J, Hosgood 3rd H . A prospective study of telomere length measured by monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR and risk of lung cancer. Lung Cancer. 2011; 73(2):133-7. PMC: 3509808. DOI: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2010.11.009. View

17.

OSullivan R, Karlseder J . Telomeres: protecting chromosomes against genome instability. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2010; 11(3):171-81. PMC: 2842081. DOI: 10.1038/nrm2848. View

18.

Hoy R, Chambers D . Silica-related diseases in the modern world. Allergy. 2020; 75(11):2805-2817. DOI: 10.1111/all.14202. View

19.

Valavanidis A, Vlachogianni T, Fiotakis K . Tobacco smoke: involvement of reactive oxygen species and stable free radicals in mechanisms of oxidative damage, carcinogenesis and synergistic effects with other respirable particles. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009; 6(2):445-62. PMC: 2672368. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph6020445. View

20.

. Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018; 392(10159):1736-1788. PMC: 6227606. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32203-7. View