Serum Levels of TGF-β1 and MCP-1 as Biomarkers for Progressive Coal Workers ’ Pneumoconiosis in Retired Coal Workers: A Three-year Follow-up Study

Abstract: Various cytokines activated by the inhalation of coal dust may mediate inflammation and lead to tissue damage. Objective of this study was to examine the relationships between coal work-ers ’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) progression over a 3 yr period and the serum levels of cytokines in 85 retired coal workers. To investigate the relevance of serum cytokines in CWP, serum levels of inter-leukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), transforming growth factor–beta1 (TGF-β1), and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) as progressive CWP biomarkers were studied in re-lation to the progression of pneumoconiosis over a 3 yr period in 85 patients with CWP. CWP pro-gression was evaluated through paired comparisons of chest radiographs. Median levels of TGF-β1 and MCP-1 were significantly higher in subjects with progressive CWP than in those without CWP progression. The area under the ROC curve for TGF-β1 (0.693) and MCP-1 (0.653) indicated that these cytokines could serve as biomarkers for the progression of CWP. Serum TGF-β1 levels were related to the progression of CWP (β=0.247, p=0.016). The results suggest that high serum levels of TGF-β1 and MCP-1 are associated with the progression of CWP. Key words: Interleukin-8, Monocyte chemotactic factor-1, Progressive coal workers ’ pneumoconiosis, Transforming growth factor-β1, Tumor necrosis factor-