Organic extract of indoor dust induces estrogen-like effects in human breast cancer cells

Breast Cancer Exposomics

We are exposed to a mixture of environmental man-made and natural xenobiotics. We experience a wide spectrum of environmental exposure in our lifetime, including the effects of xenobiotics on gametogenesis and gametes that undergo fertilization as the starting point of individual development and, moreover, in utero exposure, which can itself cause the first somatic or germline mutation necessary for breast cancer (BC) initiation. Most xenobiotics are metabolized or/and bioaccumulate and biomagnify in our tissues and cells, including breast tissues, so the xenobiotic metabolism plays an important role in BC initiation and progression. Many considerations necessitate a more valuable explanation regarding the molecular mechanisms of action of xenobiotics which act as genotoxic and epigenetic carcinogens. Thus, exposomics and the exposome concept are based on the diversity and range of exposures to physical factors, synthetic chemicals, dietary components, and psychosocial stressors, as well as their associated biologic processes and molecular pathways. Existing evidence for BC risk (BCR) suggests that food-borne chemical carcinogens, air pollution, ionizing radiation, and socioeconomic status are closely related to breast carcinogenesis. The aim of this review was to depict the dynamics and kinetics of several xenobiotics involved in BC development, emphasizing the role of new omics fields related to BC exposomics, such as environmental toxicogenomics, epigenomics and interactomics, metagenomics, nutrigenomics, nutriproteomics, and nutrimiRomics. We are mainly focused on food and nutrition, as well as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), involved in BC development. Overall, cell and tissue accumulation and xenobiotic metabolism or biotransformation can lead to modifications in breast tissue composition and breast cell morphology, DNA damage and genomic instability, epimutations, RNA-mediated and extracellular vesicle effects, aberrant blood methylation, stimulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), disruption of cell-cell junctions, reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, metabolic reprogramming, and overexpression of mesenchymal genes. Moreover, the metabolism of xenobiotics into BC cells impacts almost all known carcinogenic pathways. Conversely, in our food, there are many bioactive compounds with anti-cancer potential, exerting pro-apoptotic roles, inhibiting cell cycle progression and proliferation, migration, invasion, DNA damage, and cell stress conditions. We can conclude that exposomics has a high potential to demonstrate how environmental exposure to xenobiotics acts as a double-edged sword, promoting or suppressing tumorigenesis in BC.

Environmental pollutants induce NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis: Roles and mechanisms in various diseases

Environmental pollution is changing with economic development. Most environmental pollutants are characterized by stable chemical properties, strong migration, potential toxicity, and multiple exposure routes. Harmful substances are discharged excessively, and large quantities of unknown new compounds are emerging, being transmitted and amplifying in the food chain. The increasingly severe problems of environmental pollution have forced people to re-examine the relationship between environmental pollution and health. Pyroptosis and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome are critical in maintaining the immune balance and regulating the inflammatory process. Numerous diseases caused by environmental pollutants are closely related to NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis. We intend to systematically explain the steps and important events that are common in life but easily overlooked by which environmental pollutants activate the NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis pathways. This comprehensive review also discusses the interaction network between environmental pollutants, the NLRP3 inflammasome, pyroptosis, and diseases. Thus, research progress on the impact of decreasing oxidative stress levels to inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis, thereby repairing homeostasis and reshaping health, is systematically examined. This review aims to deepen the understanding of the impact of environmental pollutants on life and health and provide a theoretical basis and potential programs for the development of corresponding treatment strategies.

Refining health risk assessment of arsenic in wild edible boletus from typical high geochemical background areas: The role of As species, bioavailability, and enterotoxicity

Arsenic (As) is easily accumulated in wild Boletus. However, the accurate health risks and adverse effects of As on humans were largely unknown. In this study, we analyzed the total concentration, bioavailability, and speciation of As in dried wild boletus from some typical high geochemical background areas using an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 model. The health risk assessment, enterotoxicity, and risk prevention strategy after consumption of As-contaminated wild Boletus were further investigated. The results showed that the average concentration of As was 3.41-95.87 mg/kg dw, being 1.29-56.3 folds of the Chinese food safety standard limit. DMA and MMA were the dominant chemical forms in raw and cooked boletus, while their total (3.76-281 mg/kg) and bioaccessible (0.69-153 mg/kg) concentrations decreased to 0.05-9.27 mg/kg and 0.01-2.38 mg/kg after cooking. The EDI value of total As was higher than the WHO/FAO limit value, while the bioaccessible or bioavailable EDI suggested no health risks. However, the intestinal extracts of raw wild boletus triggered cytotoxicity, inflammation, cell apoptosis, and DNA damage in Caco-2 cells, indicating existing health risk assessment models based on total, bioaccessible, or bioavailable As may be not accurate enough. Given that, the bioavailability, species, and cytotoxicity should be systematically considered in accurate risk assessment. In addition, cooking mitigated the enterotoxicity along with decreasing the total and bioavailable DMA and MMA in wild boletus, suggesting that cooking could be a simple and effective way to decrease the health risks of consumption of As-contaminated wild boletus.

Omics-Based Investigations of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is characterized by an extensive genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity. In-depth investigations into the molecular bases of BC phenotypes, carcinogenesis, progression, and metastasis are necessary for accurate diagnoses, prognoses, and therapy assessments in predictive, precision, and personalized oncology. This review discusses both classic as well as several novel omics fields that are involved or should be used in modern BC investigations, which may be integrated as a holistic term, onco-breastomics. Rapid and recent advances in molecular profiling strategies and analytical techniques based on high-throughput sequencing and mass spectrometry (MS) development have generated large-scale multi-omics datasets, mainly emerging from the three "big omics", based on the central dogma of molecular biology: genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. Metabolomics-based approaches also reflect the dynamic response of BC cells to genetic modifications. Interactomics promotes a holistic view in BC research by constructing and characterizing protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks that provide a novel hypothesis for the pathophysiological processes involved in BC progression and subtyping. The emergence of new omics- and epiomics-based multidimensional approaches provide opportunities to gain insights into BC heterogeneity and its underlying mechanisms. The three main epiomics fields (epigenomics, epitranscriptomics, and epiproteomics) are focused on the epigenetic DNA changes, RNAs modifications, and posttranslational modifications (PTMs) affecting protein functions for an in-depth understanding of cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Novel omics fields, such as epichaperomics or epimetabolomics, could investigate the modifications in the interactome induced by stressors and provide PPI changes, as well as in metabolites, as drivers of BC-causing phenotypes. Over the last years, several proteomics-derived omics, such as matrisomics, exosomics, secretomics, kinomics, phosphoproteomics, or immunomics, provided valuable data for a deep understanding of dysregulated pathways in BC cells and their tumor microenvironment (TME) or tumor immune microenvironment (TIMW). Most of these omics datasets are still assessed individually using distinct approches and do not generate the desired and expected global-integrative knowledge with applications in clinical diagnostics. However, several hyphenated omics approaches, such as proteo-genomics, proteo-transcriptomics, and phosphoproteomics-exosomics are useful for the identification of putative BC biomarkers and therapeutic targets. To develop non-invasive diagnostic tests and to discover new biomarkers for BC, classic and novel omics-based strategies allow for significant advances in blood/plasma-based omics. Salivaomics, urinomics, and milkomics appear as integrative omics that may develop a high potential for early and non-invasive diagnoses in BC. Thus, the analysis of the tumor circulome is considered a novel frontier in liquid biopsy. Omics-based investigations have applications in BC modeling, as well as accurate BC classification and subtype characterization. The future in omics-based investigations of BC may be also focused on multi-omics single-cell analyses.

Estimation of Pollution Levels and Assessment of Human Health Risks from Potentially Toxic Metals in Road Dust in Mymensingh City of Bangladesh

The assessment of toxic metals pollution in road dust in Mymensingh city, Bangladesh and its impact on the health risk of human exposure to toxic metals, is inadequate. A comprehensive investigation was conducted in different land use areas, i.e., commercial areas (CA), medically facilitated areas (MFA), residential areas (RA), and park areas (PA), to determine levels of Cr (chromium), Mn (manganese), Ni (nickel), Co (cobalt), Cu (copper), Zn (zinc), As (arsenic), Cd (cadmium), and Pb (lead) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). We planned to use different pollution indices, such as the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (Cdeg), ecological risk (Er), pollution load index (PLI), and enrichment factor (EF), to measure the level of contamination in the road dust of Mymensingh City. The average concentration (mg/kg) ranges of toxic metals in the road dust at different land use areas of Mymensingh City were: Cr (40.8–85.5), Mn (370.7–589.2), Co (6.2–8.7), Ni (22.7–34.2), Cu (29.5–72.2), Zn (236.2–467.1), As (4.9–6.29), Cd (0.32–1.07), and Pb (27.4–81.7), respectively. The CF and PLI results showed that the road dust in these zones was contaminated with toxic metals. The indicator Igeo revealed that CA was found to be ‘moderately to heavily contaminated’ ranked with Zn and Cd. Calculation of EF indicated that Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were highly enriched, while others were moderately enriched. According to the Cdeg findings, CA, MFA, and RA have very high degrees of contamination (Cdeg ≥ 24), while PA was classified as having a considerable degree of contamination (12 ≤ Cdeg < 24). The Er index showed that only Cd posed a ‘medium potential ecological risk’ to a ‘high ecological potential risk’ in road dust. The most common route of exposure was ingestion. The study indicated that the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) in CA, MFA, RA, and PA were less than one for children and adults, which were at a noncarcinogenic risk. The only exception was for children exposed to manganese (HI > 1) in all land use areas. In the research area, no significant carcinogenic health risk was observed for Cr, Ni, As, Cd, and Pb.

The oral bioaccessibility and gingival cytotoxicity of metal(loid)s in wild vegetables from mining areas: Implication for human oral health

Background

Heavy metal(loid)s are frequently detected in vegetables posing potential human health risks, especially for those grown around mining areas. However, the oral bioaccessibility and gingival cytotoxicity of heavy metals in wild vegetables remain unclear.

Methods

In this study, we assessed the total and bioaccessible Cr, As, Cd, Pb, and Ni in four wild vegetables from mining areas in Southwest China. In addition, the cytotoxicity and underlying mechanisms of vegetable saliva extracts on human gingival epithelial cells (HGEC) were studied.

Results

The Plantago asiatica L. (PAL) showed the highest bioaccessible Cr, As, Cd, and Pb, while the greatest bioaccessible Ni was in Taraxacum mongolicum (TMM). The Pteridium aquilinum (PAM), Chenopodium album L. (CAL), and TMM extracts decreased cell viability, induced apoptosis, caused DNA damage, and disrupted associated gene expressions. However, PAL extracts which have the highest bioaccessible heavy metals did not present adverse effects on HGEC, which may be due to its inhibition of apoptosis by upregulating p53 and Bcl-2.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that polluted vegetable intake caused toxic effects on human gingiva. The heavy metals in vegetables were not positively related to human health risks. Collectively, both bioaccessibility and toxic data should be considered for accurate risk assessment.

Cellular heterogeneity and immune microenvironment revealed by single-cell transcriptome in venous malformation and cavernous venous malformation

Venous malformation (VM) and cavernous venous malformation (CVM) are two types of vascular malformations. Even if the two diseases are similar in appearance and imaging, the distinct cellular components and signaling pathways between them might help distinguish the two from a molecular perspective. Here, we performed single-cell profiling of 35,245 cells from two VM samples and three CVM samples, with a focus on endothelial cells (ECs), smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and immune microenvironment (IME). Clustering analysis based on differential gene expression unveiled 11 specific cell types, and determined CVM had more SMCs. Re-clustering of ECs and SMCs indicated CVM was dominated by arterial components, while VM is dominated by venous components. Gene set variation analysis suggested the activation of inflammation-related pathways in VM ECs, and upregulation of myogenesis pathway in CVM SMCs. In IME analysis, immune cells were identified to accounted for nearly 30% of the total cell number, including macrophages, monocytes, NK cells, T cells and B cells. Notably, more macrophages and monocytes were discovered in VM, indicating innate immune responses might be more closely related to VM pathogenesis. In addition, angiogenesis pathway was highlighted among the significant pathways of macrophages & monocytes between CVM and VM. In VM, VEGFA was highly expressed in macrophages & monocytes, while its receptors were all abundantly present in ECs. The close interaction of VEGFA on macrophages with its receptors on ECs was also predicted by CellPhoneDB analysis. Our results document cellular composition, significant pathways, and critical IME in CVM and VM development.

Total and bioaccessible heavy metals in cabbage from major producing cities in Southwest China: health risk assessment and cytotoxicity

Green leafy vegetables are economical and nutritious, but they may be contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, we assessed the total and bioaccessible concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Cr in a popular vegetable cabbage (Brassica oleracea) from four major producing cities in Yunnan, Southwest China. With the mean concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Cr being 0.24, 0.20, 0.32 and 1.28 mg kg-1, the As, Cd and Pb concentrations were within the limits of 0.2-0.5 mg kg-1 based on Chinese National Standards and the WHO/FAO, but Cr concentration was 2.6-times greater than the limit of 0.5 mg kg-1. Based on an in vitro bioaccessibility assay of the Solubility Bioaccessibility Research Consortium (SBRC), As bioaccessibility was the lowest at 11% while those of Cd, Pb and Cr were much greater at 68-87%. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of metals through cabbage ingestion was similar for children and adults. Among the four metals, only Cr's EDI at 2.29-1.87 exceeded 1 based on total and bioaccessible concentrations. The high Cr concentration at 1.28 mg kg-1 coupled with its high bioaccessibility at 67.5% makes Cr of concern in cabbage. However, human gastrointestinal cells exposed to the gastric digesta with high bioaccessible heavy metals and risky EDI, showed no obvious cytotoxicity, indicating that existing models based on total or bioaccessible heavy metals may overestimate their human health risk. Taken together, to accurately assess the human health risk of heavy metals in cabbage, both total/bioaccessible concentrations and the gastrointestinal cell responses should be considered.

Mechanisms of Cd and Cu induced toxicity in human gastric epithelial cells: Oxidative stress, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis

Cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) are widely present in foods. However, their adverse effects on human gastric epithelium are not fully understood. Here, human gastric epithelial cells (SGC-7901) were employed to study the toxicity and associated mechanisms of Cd + Cu co-exposure. Their effects on cell viability, morphology, oxidative damage, cell cycle, apoptosis, and the mRNA levels of antioxidases and cell cycle regulatory genes were investigated. Co-exposure to Cd (5 μM)/Cu (10 μM) induced >40% cell viability loss, whereas little effect on cell viability at <10 μM Cd or 40 μM Cu. Compared to individual exposure, co-exposure induced greater oxidative damage by elevating ROS (3.5 folds), malondialdehyde (2.3 folds) and expression of SOD1 and HO-1 besides inhibiting CAT, GPX1 and Nrf2. A marked S cell-cycle arrest was observed in co-exposure, evidenced by more cells staying in the S phase (36%), up-regulation of cyclins-dependent kinase (CDK4) and CDKs inhibitor (p21) and down-regulation of CDK2, CDK6 and p27. Furthermore, higher apoptosis (22%) with floated and round cells occurred in co-exposure group. Our data implicate the cytotoxicity of Cd + Cu co-exposure was higher than individual exposure, and individual assessment would underestimate their potential health risk. Oxidative stress and cell cycle arrest possibly played a role in Cd + Cu induced toxicity and apoptosis in SGC-7901 cells. Our data suggest the importance to reduce Cd in foods to decrease its adverse impacts on human digestive system.