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Asbestos and the Pathophysiology of Mesothelioma

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Book cover Mesothelioma

Abstract

Asbestos is the term used for a family of naturally occurring minerals with fire-retarding and insulating properties that are strong and highly durable. These characteristics and a relatively low price have contributed to the popularity of mining these inorganic substances at various locations in the world. In the beginning of the 1900s, a surge of asbestos use was noted in Europe, gradually followed by the rest of the world. The link between asbestos exposure and the occurrence of mesothelioma recognized by Wagner in 1960 marks the starting point of an intensive research journey into the aetiology, epidemiology and biology of malignant mesothelioma, one of the most lethal solid tumours in humans. The mesothelioma diagnosis is commonly made several years after the date of first asbestos exposure making asbestos ‘A time bomb with a long fuse’. It is therefore not surprising that mesothelioma incidence is following the major rise of asbestos consumption with some delay. The grim lessons from cancer epidemiology have translated into universal asbestos bans in Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea. However, the rest of the world has been slow to take heed of the growing medical insight and the numerous reports describing the carcinogenic potential of all forms of asbestos. Outside the countries that have fully banned asbestos and its products, consumption of these minerals continues on a massive scale, directly contributing to the health problems of tomorrow. This chapter summarizes the history of the discovery of mesothelioma and discusses novel epidemiological insight including the chrysotile controversy as well as translational studies elucidating the biology and pathogenesis of mesothelioma. The asbestos history is a lesson that should not be repeated, and it is hoped that this chapter will contribute to awareness of the dangers of a most prominent occupational and environmental carcinogen and will lead to a pro-active attitude of regulatory bodies in countries that have failed so far to take the necessary steps to curtail the ‘man-made’ epidemic of mesothelioma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

    Nico van Zandwijk & Glen Reid

  2. Specialist Sydney Local Health District, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia

    Nico van Zandwijk

  3. Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Glen Reid

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  1. Nico van Zandwijk
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Correspondence to Nico van Zandwijk .

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  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital, Bergamo, Italy

    Giovanni Luca Ceresoli

  2. Scientific Direction, Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital, Bergamo, Italy

    Emilio Bombardieri

  3. Department of Oncology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Milano, Italy

    Maurizio D'Incalci

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van Zandwijk, N., Reid, G. (2019). Asbestos and the Pathophysiology of Mesothelioma. In: Ceresoli, G., Bombardieri, E., D'Incalci, M. (eds) Mesothelioma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16884-1_2

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