Objective: A study was conducted to identify metabolic-related effects of benzo(ghi)perylene (BghiP) and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-heptachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (HpCDD), on primary human fibroblasts to verify biological associations previously found in occupational health research.
Methods: Human lung fibroblasts were exposed to BghiP or HpCDD and extracts were analyzed with a metabolome-wide association study to test for pathways and metabolites altered relative to controls. Gene expression was measured by quantitative-real time polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Metabolic perturbations in amino-acid, oxidative stress, and fatty-acid pathways were observed for BghiP and HpCDD. HpCDD but not BghiP exposure increased gene expression of the amino acid transporters SLC7A5 and SLC7A11.
Conclusions: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or dioxins perturbs amino acid pathways at physiologically relevant concentrations with different mechanisms. These findings imply an effect on central homeostatic systems by environmental exposures which could have implications on disease susceptibility.
Objective: A study was conducted to identifymetabolic-related effects of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on human lung epithelial cells and validate these findings using human sera.
Methods: Human lung epithelial cells were treated with BaP, and extracts were analyzed with a global metabolome-wide association study (MWAS) to test for pathways and metabolites altered relative to vehicle controls.
Results: MWAS results showed that BaP metabolites were among the top metabolites differing between BaP-treated cells and controls. Pathway enrichment analysis further confirmed that fatty acid, lipid, and mitochondrial pathways were altered by BaP. Human sera analysis showed that lipids varied with BaP concentration. BaP associations with amino acid metabolism were found in both models.
Conclusions: These findings show that BaP has broad metabolic effects, and suggest that air pollution exacerbates disease processes by altered mitochondrial and amino acid metabolism.