A Screening Test to Identify Individual Susceptibility to Oxidant-Induced Respiratory Epithelial Injury

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Respiratory Medicine
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Oxidant injury to respiratory epithelium from air pollution contributes to respiratory health issues.
• Individual susceptibility significantly influences the severity of adverse effects.
• Identifying susceptible individuals is crucial for recruiting participants into antioxidant therapy clinical trials (RCTs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid and practical method for classifying individuals based on their susceptibility to oxidant injury.
• To enable efficient screening of participants for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) investigating antioxidant strategies.

Main Methods:

• Primary nasal epithelial cells (NECs) from healthy adults were cultured.
• Mitochondrial function was assessed using a Seahorse XF analyzer in submerged monolayer cultures.
• K-means cluster analysis of ATP production and basal respiration classified subjects into sensitive or resistant groups.

Main Results:

• A novel screening test based on mitochondrial function was developed.
• The test classifies individuals as sensitive ( < 25 mM H2O2) or resistant (≥ 25 mM H2O2) to oxidative stress.
• This method achieved 100% classification agreement with a previous, longer method and provides results in 2-3 weeks.

Conclusions:

• Measuring mitochondrial function in NECs offers a rapid and practical approach to identify susceptibility to oxidant injury.
• This new screening test significantly reduces the time required for participant classification compared to previous methods.
• The developed method is suitable for screening participants for antioxidant therapy RCTs.