Persistent organic pollutants and plasma microRNAs: A community-based profiling analysis

作者：Jie Qu, Wending Li, Chengyong Jia, Qin Jiang, Rui Tang, Yu Yin, Xi Wang, Pinpin Long, Tangchun Wu, Yu Yuan · 发表于：Environment International · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.envint.2025.109328 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：MicroRNA in disease regulation、Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact、Carcinogens and Genotoxicity Assessment

BACKGROUND: Whether exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may incur microRNAs (miRNAs) dysregulation remains largely unclear. OBJECTIVES: We aim to identify the miRNA signature and related pathways of low-level POPs exposure in a community-based population. METHODS: We used general linear regression to model the association of POPs with plasma miRNAs, adjusting for age, gender, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, triglyceride, and total cholesterol levels. We performed pathway enrichment analysis based on 11 experimentally validated and prediction-based databases, and performed tissue specificity analysis. RESULTS: We identified 19 POPs significantly associated with 23 miRNAs at false discovery rate-adjusted P value < 0.2, most of which were related to organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides. Pathway enrichment of the associated miRNAs highlighted chromosome segregation, RNA splicing, autophagy regulation, lipid metabolism, cell growth, development and differentiation, cell cycle regulation, neural network construction, and signal transduction. Notably, 13 POPs were positively associated with miR-6810-3p, a miRNA enriched in temporal lobe with high tissue specificity (Tissue Specificity Index = 0.78). Pathway analysis revealed that miR-6810-3p contributes to the positive regulation of autophagy and multiple cellular functions related to the nervous system such as transport along microtubules, maintenance of cell polarity, and synaptic transmission...