Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016:2016:5091838.
doi: 10.1155/2016/5091838. Epub 2016 Mar 15.

Cell-Based Therapy for Silicosis

Miquéias Lopes-Pacheco  1 , Elga Bandeira  1 , Marcelo M Morales  1
Affiliations
Review

Cell-Based Therapy for Silicosis

Miquéias Lopes-Pacheco et al. Stem Cells Int. 2016.

Abstract

Silicosis is the most common pneumoconiosis globally, with higher prevalence and incidence in developing countries. To date, there is no effective treatment to halt or reverse the disease progression caused by silica-induced lung injury. Significant advances have to be made in order to reduce morbidity and mortality related to silicosis. In this review, we have highlighted the main mechanisms of action that cause lung damage by silica particles and summarized the data concerning the therapeutic promise of cell-based therapy for silicosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Silicosis pathogenesis. The main mechanisms that orchestrate the disease progression caused by silica-induced lung damage are (1) direct cytotoxicity, (2) production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), (3) secretion of inflammatory and fibrotic mediators, (4) lung remodeling through collagen and elastin deposition, and (5) cell death by apoptosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Leung C. C., Yu I. T. S., Chen W. Silicosis. The Lancet. 2012;379(9830):2008–2018. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60235-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hnizdo E., Murray J. Risk of pulmonary tuberculosis relative to silicosis and exposure to silica dust in South African gold miners. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 1998;55(7):496–502. doi: 10.1136/oem.55.7.496. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hnizdo E., Vallyathan V. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to occupational exposure to silica dust: a review of epidemiological and pathological evidence. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2003;60(4):237–243. doi: 10.1136/oem.60.4.237. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Filho M. T., Santos U. D. E. P. Silicose. Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia. 2006;32:41–47. - PubMed
    1. Brown T. Silica exposure, smoking, silicosis and lung cancer-complex interactions. Occupational Medicine. 2009;59(2):89–95. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqn171. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources