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Environmental factors and human health: fibrous and particulate substance-induced immunological disorders and construction of a health-promoting living environment

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Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Among the various scientific fields covered in the area of hygiene such as environmental medicine, epidemiology, public health and preventive medicine, we are investigating the immunological effects of fibrous and particulate substances in the environment and work surroundings, such as asbestos fibers and silica particles. In addition to these studies, we have attempted to construct health-promoting living conditions. Thus, in this review we will summarize our investigations regarding the (1) immunological effects of asbestos fibers, (2) immunological effects of silica particles, and (3) construction of a health-promoting living environment. This review article summarizes the 2014 Japanese Society for Hygiene (JSH) Award Lecture of the 85th Annual Meeting of the JSH entitled “Environmental health effects: immunological effects of fibrous and particulate matter and establishment of health-promoting environments” presented by the first author of this manuscript, Prof. Otsuki, Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan, the recipient of the 2014 JSH award. The results of our experiments can be summarized as follows: (1) asbestos fibers reduce anti-tumor immunity, (2) silica particles chronically activate responder and regulatory T cells causing an unbalance of these two populations of T helper cells, which may contribute to the development of autoimmune disorders frequently complicating silicosis, and (3) living conditions to enhance natural killer cell activity were developed, which may promote the prevention of cancers and diminish symptoms of virus infections.

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Acknowledgments

All authors thank former members of the Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan, including Profs. Yoshio Mochiduki and Ayako Ueki, Drs. Fuminori Hyodoh, Takata-Tomokuni Akiko, Yasuhiko Kawakami, Takaaki Aikoh, Takakazu Matsuki, Yoshie Miura, Shuko Murakami, Ping Wu, Ying Chen, Hiroaki Hayashi and Megumi Maeda. We also thank Ms. Minako Katoh, Naomi Miyahara, Keiko Kimura, Misao Kuroki, Tomoko Sueishi, Yoshiko Yamashita, Satomi Hatada and Haruko Sakaguchi for their technical support. Foundations supporting all the findings described in this review are shown in the articles reported previously and individually. We, therefore, ask that you refer to these publications rather than being shown here a list of the foundations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, Kurashiki, Okayama, 701-0192, Japan

    Takemi Otsuki, Hidenori Matsuzaki, Suni Lee, Naoko Kumagai-Takei, Shoko Yamamoto, Tamayo Hatayama, Kei Yoshitome & Yasumitsu Nishimura

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  1. Takemi Otsuki
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  2. Hidenori Matsuzaki
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  3. Suni Lee
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  4. Naoko Kumagai-Takei
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  8. Yasumitsu Nishimura
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Correspondence to Takemi Otsuki.

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Conflict of interest

Recently, the first author received a research foundation from Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. in 2014. However, this foundation is not related to any of the experiments shown in this manuscript. During experiments involving biological assays of negatively charged particles, Sekisui House Co. Ltd., Yamada SXL Co. Ltd. and Artech Kohbou Co. Ltd. provided the construction fees for experimental rooms, SUMICAS® devices and the experimental incubator as collaboration partners for all experiments. In addition, the first author received a research foundation including purchasing fees for experimental consumable supplies and traffic fees from Sekisui House Co. Ltd. in 2009.

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Otsuki, T., Matsuzaki, H., Lee, S. et al. Environmental factors and human health: fibrous and particulate substance-induced immunological disorders and construction of a health-promoting living environment. Environ Health Prev Med 21, 71–81 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12199-015-0499-6

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