Asbestos exposure is associated with many adverse health conditions including malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer as well as production of autoantibodies. Autoantibodies may serve as biomarkers for asbestos exposure in patients with cancer, and autoimmune ...

Published: March 2021

Autoantibodies have been associated with both asbestos exposure and various cancers. Therefore, autoantibodies can be explored as markers of disease or markers of asbestos exposure.

In this study, the relationship between ANA and asbestos-associated cancers was examined, since amphibole asbestos exposures were shown to induce ANA, and because of some evidence that autoimmune responsiveness is associated with, and may play roles in, development of some cancers.

The current study found that those without a cancer diagnosis were significantly (5-fold) more likely to be positive for ANA than cancer patients. This was true for both lung cancer and mesothelioma patients.

Anti-nuclear autoantibodies are strongly associated with, and sometimes diagnostic for, systemic autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis, Sjogren Syndrome, and mixed connective tissue disease.

Several investigators reported that ANA also occur in the serum of cancer patients, and the possibility that these autoantibodies may be related to DNA damage and cancer etiology.