ArticleJornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia2025
Silica-exposed patients with silicosis show shorter telomeres than do unexposed individuals: a pilot study in a population in southeastern Brazil.
Article in Jornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
objectiveSilicosis 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.
methodsWe 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.
resultsThe 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).
conclusionsSilica 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.
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