In subjects without asbestos-related disease, carriers of at least one polymorphic CALB2 rs889704 A allele had lower calretinin than carriers of two wild-type alleles in the additive model (P = 0.014) and dominant model (P = 0.004), but no significant differences were observed in subjects with pleural plaques (Padd = 0.060, Pdom = 0.300) and subjects with asbestosis (Padd = 0.290, Pdom = 0.279). Here, CALB2 is linked to asbestosis.