Metabolic alterations and mitochondrial dysfunction in human airway BEAS-2B cells exposed to vanadium pentoxide

Vanadium pentoxide (V⁺⁵) is a hazardous material that has drawn considerable attention due to its wide use in industrial sectors and increased release into environment from human activities. It poses potential adverse effects on animals and human health, with pronounced impact on lung physiology and functions. In this study, we investigated the metabolic response of human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cells to low-level V⁺⁵ exposure (0.01, 0.1, and 1 ppm) using liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Exposure to V⁺⁵ caused extensive changes to cellular metabolism in BEAS-2B cells, including TCA cycle, glycolysis, fatty acids, amino acids, amino sugars, nucleotide sugar, sialic acid, vitamin D₃, and drug metabolism, without causing cell death. Altered mitochondrial structure and function were observed with as low as 0.01 ppm (0.2 μM) V⁺⁵ exposure. In addition, decreased level of E-cadherin, the prototypical epithelial marker of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), was observed following V⁺⁵ treatment, supporting potential toxicity of V⁺⁵ at low levels. Taken together, the present study shows that V⁺⁵ has adverse effects on mitochondria and the metabolome which may result in EMT activation in the absence of cell death. Furthermore, results suggest that high-resolution metabolomics could serve as a powerful tool to investigate metal toxicity at levels which do not cause cell death.