A05_Gene-environment interactions and asbestosis

It has become increasingly obvious that both environmental and genetic factors may influence the development of many diseases. Primary candidates for gene-environment interactions studies have been mostly genes coding for enzymes involved in the detoxification processes.
The gene-environment interactions will be presented on the example of our study into asbestosis, which is one of the most frequent asbestos related diseases. The nested case-control study has been performed. Data on cumulative asbestos exposure and smoking were available for all subjects. PCR based methods were used for genotyping. To assess asbestosis risk, logistic regression analysis was used.
The findings of our study into asbestosis and the results of other studies suggest that in addition to environmental and/or occupational exposure to different hazards and lifestyle factors, the genetic factors as well as the interactions between different genotypes, genotypes and lifestyle factors, and between genotypes and environmental/occupational exposure to hazards have an important influence on the development of diseases and should be further investigated.