Effects of asbestos on the cell cycle of PHA-stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes

It is well known that persons exposed to asbestos display systemic immunological alterations: impaired lymphocyte response to PHA, the appearance of autoantibodies and elevation of the serum immunoglobulin level. The authors intend in this report to determine whether asbestos fibres (crocidolite, chrysotile and amosite) have any effect on the cell cycle of human lymphocytes after PHA stimulation. Peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells were incubated with 10 micrograms/ml PHA for 2 days. After PHA stimulation, a decrease in the percentage of cells in the G0 phase and an increase in that of cells in the G1A, G1B and S phases was observed. When asbestos fibres or titanium dioxide (TiO2) was added to the culture dish at the beginning of the experiment, the progression of the cell cycle was inhibited only by asbestos fibres, in which case the percentage of cells in the G0 phase was significantly increased, while those of cells in the G1B and S phases were significantly decreased. The experiment for determining the critical period for inhibition of blastogenic response revealed that no inhibition was demonstrable when crocidolite fibre was added at 24 hr after PHA stimulation. Although the mechanisms of asbestos-fibre-mediated suppression remain to be clarified, these results showed that asbestos fibres act at an early stage (G0 phase) of the cell cycle and suppress the PHA stimulation of PBM cells.