Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 24, 2026
Establishing a Silicosis Rat Model via Exposure of Whole-Body to Respirable Silica
Published on: October 28, 2022
[Change of serum TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in silicosis patients]
Rong-Ming Miao1, Xue-Tao Zhang, Yu-Lan Yan
1Wuxi Hospital for Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Disease, Wuxi, China.
Objective:
To observe serum TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in silicosis patients and workers exposed to silica dust to study the role of TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in the development of silicosis.
Methods:
One hundred non-exposed workers were selected as control group, 200 workers exposed to silica dust for more than 1 year as exposed group, 32 suspected silicosis patients (originally diagnosed as 0+) as observing group, 130 silicosis patients were as silicosis group. Serum TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in each group were determined with ELISA.
Results:
Serum TNF-alpha in exposed group [(47.86 +/- 16.52) pg/ml], observing group [(109.11 +/- 31.08) pg/ml], silicosis group [(216.35 +/- 51.03) pg/ml] were significantly higher than that in control group [(6.90 +/- 2.24) pg/ml] (P < 0.01); Silicosis group and observing group were also higher than exposed group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Compared with control group [(23.28 +/- 12.24) pg/ml] and exposed group [(29.31 +/- 14.52) pg/ml], serum TGF-beta1 in silicosis group was much higher (P < 0.01).
Conclusion:
TGF-beta1, and TNF-alpha were essential in the development of silicosis, so the detection of TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in peripheral blood was very useful for occupational health surveillance and early diagnosis of silicosis.
