Logo image
Evaluation of Early Biomarkers of Atherosclerosis Associated with Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure: An in Vitro and in Vivo Study
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evaluation of Early Biomarkers of Atherosclerosis Associated with Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure: An in Vitro and in Vivo Study

Bingwei Yang, Zhishuai Ye, Yawen Wang, Hongzhou Guo, Hans-Joachim Lehmler, Rongchong Huang, Erqun Song and Yang Song
Environmental health perspectives, Vol.130(3), pp.37011-37011
03/2022
DOI: 10.1289/EHP9833
PMCID: PMC8963524
PMID: 35349355
url
https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9833View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Miscellaneous cardiovascular risk factors have been defined, but the contribution of environmental pollutants exposure on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains underappreciated. We investigated the potential impact of typical environmental pollutant exposure on atherogenesis and its underlying mechanisms. We used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and apolipoprotein E knockout ( ) mice to investigate how 2,3,5-trichloro-6-phenyl-[1,4]-benzoquinone (PCB29-pQ, a toxic polychlorinated biphenyl metabolite) affects atherogenesis and identified early biomarkers of CVD associated with PCB29-pQ exposures. Then, we used long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) -overexpressing mice and apolipoprotein E/caveolin 1 double-knockout ( ) mice to address the role of these early biomarkers in PCB29-pQ-induced atherogenesis. Plasma samples from patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) were also used to confirm our findings. Our data indicate that lncRNA bound to via argonaute 2 in PCB29-pQ-challenged HUVECs. Our mRNA sequencing assay identified transforming growth ( ) as a possible target gene of ; sponged and inhibited the binding of to . The effect of PCB29-pQ-induced endothelial injury, vascular inflammation, development of plaques, and atherogenesis in mice was greater with -mediated inhibition, whereas -overexpressing mice and mice showed the opposite effect. Consistently, plasma levels of and were found to be significantly associated individuals diagnosed with CHD. These findings demonstrated that a mechanism-based, integrated-omics approach enabled the identification of potentially clinically relevant diagnostic indicators and therapeutic targets of CHD mediated by environmental contaminants using and models of HUVECs and and mice. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9833.

Details

Metrics

Logo image