Malignant mesothelioma is a cancer with poor prognosis associated with exposures to asbestos. The mechanisms of asbestos-induced mesotheliomas are unclear, and studies are required to find diagnostic tools and therapies to improve the survival rates of patients. After oligonucleotide microarray analysis (Affymetrix array) of normal rat pleural mesothelial (RPM) cells, RPM cells exposed to croci...

Editorial Mesotheliomas, minerals, and man-made mineral fibres In spite of much research and frequent international meetings no clear advice can yet be given on the prevention of mesotheliomas. After the original observations of Wagner et al,' the evidence from South Africa has been consistent with t'he view that only crocidolite causes meso-thelioma. Although conditions in the African chrysoti...

Primary malignant neoplasms of the pericardium are rare and are predominantly mesotheliomas, followed by benign localized fibrous mesothelioma, malignant fibrosarcoma, angiosarcoma and benign and malignant teratomas. 1 This article concerns an atypical presentation of this malignant tumor with symptoms and signs of pericardial effusion. This unusual feature was complete encasement of the h...

Examination of effusions from body cavities must include a search for neoplastic as well as inflammatory cells. Neoplastic cells found in the thorax are generally derived from adenocarcinomas or mesotheliomas. Mesotheliomas are relatively uncommon and the neoplastic cells found in effusions are difficult to differentiate from activated cells in inflammatory effusions. An ante-mortem diagnosis o...

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) associated primary effusion lymphomas arise and grow in the body cavities as effusions, but it is not known whether the lining of body cavities and mesothelium derived malignancies are potential targets of HHV-8 infection. We examined a series of 13 diffuse malignant mesotheliomas and four mesothelial cell rich effusion samples of non-neoplastic aetiology from non-im...

Erionite and crocidolite fibers were tested for carcinogenicity by intrapleural and intraperitoneal injection (una tantum) in 40 Sprague-Dawley rats per route for each fiber type. Pleural mesotheliomas were found in nine of ten animals that died within a year after intrapleural injection with erionite fibers. No pleural tumors were found among the animals treated at the same time and in the sam...