[Immunological changes in dust-induced lung diseases]

One hundred and forty five patients with different forms of dust-induced lung disease and 57 controls having no contacts with industrial aerosols were examined. It was ascertained that clinical and functional evidence cannot predict the course of the disease and the development of infectious complications (silicotuberculosis, mechanic bronchitis). Impaired humoral immunity and nonspecific resistance in dust-induced lung disease depend on the type of disease and predispose to infectious complications. Predisposition to occupational lung diseases (pneumoconioses, mechanical bronchitis) is associated with increases in the concentrations of plasma fibronectin and serum IgA and a decrease in serum mucin antigen levels. In chronic mechanical bronchitis, there were lower activities of lysozyme and complement and elevated serum IgM and IgG concentrations. Fibronectin, total IgE and the inflammatory marker the mucin antigen 3EG5 are involved in immunological inflammation in dust-induced lung disease. It is worth of determining the factors of humoral immunity and nonspecific resistance in workers contacting with high concentrations of industrial aerosols and in patients with dust-induced diseases to make a precise assessment of the time course of changes in a pathological process and to define a risk for infectious complications.