How Asbestos Causes Mesothelioma Cancer

Asbestos also May possess immunosuppressive properties. For example, chrysotile fibres have been shown to depress the in vitro proliferation of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes, suppress natural killer cell lysis and significantly reduce lymphokine-activated killer cell viability and recovery. Furthermore, genetic alterations in asbestos-activated macrophages may result in the release of potent mesothelial cell mitogens such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) which in turn, may induce the chronic stimulation and proliferation of mesothelial cells after injury by asbestos fibres.


As an environmentally triggered malignancy, mesothelioma tumors have been found to be polyclonal in origin by performing a X-inactivation based assay on epitheloid and biphasic tumors obtained from female patients.These results suggest that an environmental factor, e.g. asbestos exposure, may damage and transform a group of cells in the tissue, therefore result in a population of tumor cells that are, albeit slightly, genetically different.

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