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Activity of Telomerase in Coal Worker's Autopsied Lung
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Jin Suk Chung, Hae Yun Nam, Byoung Yong Ahn, Kyoung Ah Kim, Young Lim
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Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2002;14(4):347-352. Published online December 31, 2002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2002.14.4.347
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 Abstract
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- OBJECT: We measured the activity of telomerase in coal workers lung tissue and found a significant increase in telomerase activity compared to the control group. Pneumoconiosis has the characteristics of fibroblast proliferation and the accumulation of collagen,thus finally causing the pathologic changes,which lead to the irreversible and progressive fibrosis of the lungs. We hypothesized that this cellular proliferation causing irreversible fibrosis may induce some elongation of the life cycle in the chromosomes and lead to further cellular immortalization.
METHOD
8 postmortem(within 24 hours)pneumo-coniotic cases were examined and their telomerase activity was compared with that of the autopsied lungs of lung cancer patients and of accident victims without any respiratory diseases. Using the extracted ribo-nucleoprotein from pneumoconiotic nodules, telomeric repeat amplification assay (TRAP)was done.
RESULT
The pneumoconiotic lungs showed strong telomerase activity, similar to that of the lung cancer patients, while the control group showed no such activity.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of this study, we found that coal dust-induced cellular proliferation affects telomerase-activity clinically.
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Effect of Human Immunoglobulin G in Pneumoconiotic Patients with Pneumonia
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Je Hyuk Mun, Jin Suk Chung, Kyoung Ah Kim, Young Lim, Ho Woo Nam, Joong Soo Han
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Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2002;14(2):134-142. Published online June 30, 2002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2002.14.2.134
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Abstract
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- OBJECTIVES
It is well known that pneumoconiotic patients experience impairments of macrophage function, as well as poor penetration of drugs into the fibrotic nodules and the immune system. Resultantly, pneumonia is frequently involved in pneumoconiotic patients and its treatment is not easy. Therefore, we conducted a clinical evaluation of immunoglobulin G which is known to be effective in severe infectious diseases.
METHODS
We randomly selected 45 pneumoconiotic patients with pneumonia and classified them into 2 groups. The experimental group (IgG group) was scheduled to receive antibiotics and IgG (5 g I.V./day for 7 days). The control group was treated with antibiotics alone. Sputum gram stain (counts of WBCs and microorganisms), body temperature, arterial oxygen tension, and counts of peripheral venous blood leukocytes and band neutrophils were used as markers to assess the response effect therapy at time periods of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 days after completion of therapy. We compared the clinical scores between the two groups.
RESULTS
The experimental IgG treated group was composed of 27 patients, and the control group comprised 18 patients. There was no statistical differences between two groups in terms of age, pneumoconiotic profusion, impairment degree of pulmonary function, or frequency of pathogen isolation in the sputum before medication. The experimental IgG treated group showed lower clinical scores as compared with the control group (p=0.083).
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that IgG infusion with antibiotics will have an effect on pneumonia therapy in pneumoconiosis patients that are under 60 years and exhibit simple pneumoconiosis.
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KSOEM
