NEWS: UM study links Libby asbestos, immune disease risks

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UM study links Libby asbestos, immune disease risks

By MEA ANDREWS of the Missoulian

University of Montana researchers have documented a link between asbestos

and the red flags for autoimmune diseases that the human body sends out, a

study of interest to Libby residents and people with such diseases as lupus

or rheumatoid arthritis.

The study looked at blood samples from 50 residents of Libby - a town

contaminated by decades of vermiculite mining and asbestos - and compared

them to samples from a control group, matched by age and sex, of 50 people

living in Missoula.

What the study found, said UM researcher Pfau, is that the Libby

residents were much more likely to have certain proteins in their blood -

autoantibodies known as antinuclear antibodies, or ANAs - that the body

mistakenly sends out and which attack tissues, organs and cells.

Those antinuclear antibodies occurred 28.6 percent more frequently in the

Libby group than in the Missoula group, said Pfau, a researcher with UM's

Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

It is one step toward understanding the role that environmental exposures

may play in triggering autoimmune diseases such as the joint-attacking

rheumatoid arthritis, the skin-and-connective-tissue disease scleroderma,

and lupus, which can affect the whole body, from skin to organs to joints.

Does this mean more bad news for Libby?

It could mean that Libby residents' long exposure to asbestos may, in some

people, trigger diseases in which the immune system makes a mistake and

begins attacking itself.

More study is needed to be certain, Pfau said.

For Libby residents, the more information available, the better.

Understanding potential problems means that people can begin treating and

managing illnesses earlier, slowing or stopping the progression, Pfau noted.

UM's study is small, but researchers intend to embark on a larger-scale

study to determine whether higher ANA levels translate into actual

autoimmune diseases.

Libby residents sense they have a higher incidence of such diseases, but

that needs to be studied and documented, Pfau said.

A registry of Libby residents collected years ago includes more than 7,000

people, about 500 of whom said they've been diagnosed with autoimmune

diseases.

UM is applying for grants from the National Institutes of Health to follow

up with those residents. Results could take four or five years to publish,

Pfau said.

UM's findings for this first study are printed in the January 2005 issue of

Environmental Health Perspectives.

The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association called the UM study

promising. Heredity aspects of autoimmune diseases are well-known, but

environmental triggers are less understood, according to the association.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/01/31/news/local/news02.txt