Effects of the Interactions between Dust Exposure and Genetic Polymorphisms in Nalp3, Caspase-1, and IL-1β on the Risk of Silicosis: A Case-Control Study.
Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) plays an important role in silica-induced lung inflammation, but the mechanisms that underlie the influence of IL-1β on the progression of silicosis remain unclear.
To study whether functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the regulatory elements of genes coding for the IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-1 receptor antagonist (RA) cytokines are associated with silicosis, we examined 318 Caucasian cases confirmed histopathologically with pulmonary silicosis and 163 controls without any apparent inflammation or other pulmonary disease.