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Vinyl Chloride and High-Fat Diet as a Model of Environment and Obesity Interaction
Published on: January 12, 2020
Analysis of microRNA expression and micronuclei frequency in workers exposed to vinyl chloride monomer in China
Nan-Nan Feng1,2, Yan Fang1, Ya-Nan Zhang1
1Department of Occupational Health & Toxicology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, & Key Laboratory of Public Health & Safety of Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Aim:
To identify differently expressed miRNAs associated with vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and micronuclei (MN) frequency.
Method:
In discovery stage, we used microarray to detect miRNAs expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes between six low and six high VCM-exposed workers grouped by medium cumulative exposure dose. Then we validated four miRNAs using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and detected the micronuclei frequencies using cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay in 94 VCM-exposed workers and 53 healthy control subjects.
Results & Conclusion:
We found eight miRNAs significantly downregulated and seven miRNAs upregulated (|Fold Change| >2; p < 0.05) in the high-exposure group through microarray. We validate that miR-222-3p, miR-146a-5p and miR-151a-5p were downregulated, while miR-22-3p was upregulated in VCM-exposed group (all p < 0.01). Furthermore, we found that expression of miR-22-3p was upregulated in the high micronuclei (MN) frequency subjects. In conclusion, our study suggested that these four miRNAs could be biomarkers of VCM exposure, and moreover miR-22-3p was correlated with MN frequency.
