uman and animal studies for association between silica and autoimmune diseases, their early detection of silicosis and new options for treatment. Recent findings New industries such as jewelry polishing, denim jean production, fabrication of artificial stone benchtops, glass manufacturing and glassware has led to re-emergence of silicosis around the world. Silicosis with long term exposure to dust containing crystalline silica has been examined as a possible risk factor with respect to several autoimmune diseases as scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, and some types of small vessel vasculitis with renal involvement. The dust may act to promote or accelerate disease development, requiring some other factors to break immune tolerance or initiate autoimmunity. Autophagy, apoptosis, or pyroptosis-related signaling pathways have also been suggested to contribute to the formation of those pathways with coordination of environmental co-exposure that can magnify autoimmune vulnerability. Summary Better understanding the mechanisms that involve silica -induced autoimmune diseases may contribute to early diagnosis....

A multinational registry has documented diagnostic details related to autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, autoimmune myositis, mixed connective tissue disease, psoriasis, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis among individuals with silicosis.

Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 1/10 individuals, and their burden continues to increase over time at varying rates across individual diseases .

In order to prevent autoimmune diseases induced by silica exposure, it is crucial to minimize or eliminate this exposure altogether. In a comprehensive review addressing the prevention of rheumatoid arthritis, 11 strategies are discussed to reduce the disease risk.

Among these strategies, one noteworthy recommendation is the avoidance of silica exposure. It is noted that 40% of rheumatoid arthritis cases are attributable to exposure to potentially modifiable factors .

Silica-exposed current smokers were observed to have a more than sevenfold increase in the risk of antibodies to citrullinated peptides (ACPA)-positive RA, exceeding the risk expected from the separate effects of silica exposure and smoking, suggesting that an interaction between these exposures contributes to development of ACPA-positive RA

Early detection of silicosis and autoimmune diseases should prioritize mitigating the risk of silica exposure, which serves as the initial trigger for the immunological cascade. This cascade first leads to silicosis and subsequently increases the susceptibility to autoimmune diseases