Coal workers' pneumoconiosis(CWP) is a fibrotic lung disease resulting from the chronic inhalation of coal dust. Various cytokines and growth factors secreted from macrophages and monocytes play a key r ole in the pathogenesis of penumoconiosis. The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB and the insulin-like growth factor(IGF)-1 secreted from the macrophages and monocytes are believed to stimulate the accumulation of mesenchymal cells and fibrosis of the lower respiratory tract that is observed in fibrotic lung disease. The serum concentration of PDGF-BB and IGF-1 in 30 CWP patients and 10 healthy controls were measured in order to determine if PDGF-BB and IGF-1 can be used as sensitive biomarkers in CWP.

Serum was collected from 30 patients with CWP (13 with simple CWP and 17 with complicated CWP) and 10 healthy controls. The serum concentrations of PDGF-BB and IGF-1 were measured using ELISA (R & D system, Minneapolis, MN).

The serum PDGF-BB concentration in patients with complicated CWP (10083.76±639.07 pg/ml) was significantly higher than in the patients with simple CWP(8493.88±848.51 pg/ml) and the healthy controls (3726.17±292.20pg/ml)(p<0.05). Compared to the healthy controls (413.40±1.94ng/ml), there was no significant difference in the serum IGF-1 concentration in patients with simple (366.77±183.67ng/ml) and complicated CWP (403.18±15.39ng/ml)(p>0.05).

These results show the important role of the PDGF-BB mediated pathways in the pathogenesis of CWP. These data suggests that the PDGF-BB serum concentration is a useful biomarkers of the fibrotic extent in CWP patients.