Table 1.

The major part of our previous studies about immunological effects of asbestos exposure and analysis for immune functions of patients.

Analyses for	Asbestos in cultures or name of diseases	Results	References
(i) Natural killer (NK) cells
Human NK cell line, YT-A1	Culture with chrysotile	Decreases in natural cytotoxicity, cell surface NKG2D, and 2B4 and phosphorylation of ERK	[5, 6]
Peripheral blood CD56+ NK cells	Malignant mesothelioma	Low cytotoxicity, low expression of cell surface NKp46	[5]
Human NK cells in PBMC	Culture with chrysotile	Decrease in cell surface NKp46	[5]
(ii) T helper cells
Human T cell line, MT-2	Culture with chrysotile	Resistance against asbestos-induced apoptosis, increases in secretion of IL-10 and expression of bcl-2 mRNA, decreases in secretion of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6, and CXCL10, and surface expression and mRNA of CXCR3	[1, 2]
	Culture with crocidolite	Resistance against asbestos-induced apoptosis, increases in secretion of IL-10 and ratio of bcl-2/bax mRNAs, and decreases in secretion of IFN-γ and TNF-α	[4]
Peripheral blood CD4+ T cells	Malignant mesothelioma	Very low expression of cell surface CXCR3, low IFN-γ mRNA, and high bcl-2 mRNA	[1, 3]
	Pleural plaque	Low expression of cell surface CXCR3	[3]
Isolated human CD4+ T cells	Culture with chrysotile	Decreases in cell surface CXCR3 and intracellular IFN-γ	[3]
(iii) Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)
Human CD8+ T cells in mixed lymphocyte reaction	Culture with chrysotile	Decreases in allogeneic cytotoxicity and intracellular IFN-γ and granzyme B	[7]
Peripheral blood CD8+ T cells	Malignant mesothelioma	High percentage of perforin+ cells, stimulation-induced decrease in perforin+ cells	[9]
	Pleural plaque	High percentage of perforin+ cells	[9]