Anticancer properties of inhaled cotton dust: A pilot experimental investigation

Abstract

Epidemiologica! studies have suggested that cotton textile workers exhibit lower than expected rates of cancer, in particular, lung cancer. An animal model using aerosolized cotton dust as a treatment was used to evaluate and substantiate reported epidemiological results. Mice were injected in a lateral tail vein with 1 x 10⁵ viable Lewis lung carcinoma cells and treated with aerosolized cotton or inert (cellulose) dust. The results suggest that animals that inhale cotton dust after injection with tumor cells survive longer than control animals. Animals treated similarly with inert (cellulose) dust survived just as long statistically as the group treated with cotton dust.

This supports the hypothesis that some beneficial effects are derived from occupational exposure to cotton dust. Occupational exposure to other kinds of dust may also be beneficial, but the results are masked by confounding variables. It is hypothesized that a common containment of dust, endotoxin, is responsible for this benefit.

Notes

Present Address: Center for Environmental and Occupational Training, Inc., 814 East Pittsburgh Plaza, East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15112.