The pulmonary carcinogenicity of quartz in rats supports the plausibility of silica-induced lung cancer in humans. However, pulmonary responses of rats to dusts differ from those of other rodents, and may differ from those of humans. Dust-exposed rats have a greater propensity than mice or hamsters for epithelial hyperplasia, metaplasia, and fibrosis. Lung tumors occur in rats, but not mice or hamsters, treated with quartz, or exposed chronically to several other dusts. There are few opportunities for directly comparing the susceptibilities of rats and humans to dust-induced lung tumors. Because of the uncertain human responses to silica and many other particles, the negative human lung cancer response to coal dust may provide the best opportunity to calibrate responses of rats against those of humans. Historical dust lung burdens in coal miners were in the range of those associated with carcinogenicity in rats exposed to several dusts, but the carcinogenicity of coal dust in rats is unknown. The usefulness of tumor data from rats for predicting human lung cancer risk from inhaled silica and other dusts remains uncertain.
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