Serum osteopontin levels in previously asbestos-exposed workers

Pleural Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) is a highly aggressive tumor with a poor survival rate. This kind of tumor is often misdiagnosed and once correctly diagnosed, in most cases, it rapidly evolves to advanced stages. Although, some other etiological factors/cofactors, such as genetic susceptibility or viral oncogenes (SV40), have been recently hypothesized, most MMs can be attributed to inhalation of asbestos fibers. Previously exposed population is very large and this makes a prevention strategy based only on radiological exams, not affordable both from a ethical and economical point of view. Therefore, the investigation of biological indicators with the significance of "risk factors" or "markers of early diagnosis" is strongly recommended by the scientific community. Recently, Pass HI et al. have demonstrated that osteopontin (OP) is significantly associated with MM but a reliable "cut-off level" indicating who is at risk and who is not, among previously exposed people, has not been fixed yet. The goal of the present study was to analyze the potential confounding role of some variables like respiratory functionality, smoking, age, duration of exposure. Our data confirm that serum OP increases with both age and duration of exposure and indicate that smokers have higher OP level than healthy non-smokers.