Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Department of Experimental Medicine, Division of Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Histology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli 16, 80138 Naples, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Sep 30;21(19):7221. doi: 10.3390/ijms21197221.
Environmental pollution has reached a global echo and represents a serious problem for human health. Air pollution encompasses a set of hazardous substances, such as particulate matter and heavy metals (e.g., cadmium, lead, and arsenic), and has a strong impact on the environment by affecting groundwater, soil, and air. An adaptive response to environmental cues is essential for human survival, which is associated with the induction of adaptive phenotypes. The epigenetic mechanisms regulating the expression patterns of several genes are promising candidates to provide mechanistic and prognostic insights into this. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) fulfil these features given their ability to respond to environmental factors and their critical role in determining phenotypes. These molecules are present in extracellular fluids, and their expression patterns are organ-, tissue-, or cell-specific. Moreover, the experimental settings for their quantitative and qualitative analysis are robust, standardized, and inexpensive. In this review, we provide an update on the role of miRNAs as suitable tools for understanding the mechanisms behind the physiopathological response to toxicants and the prognostic value of their expression pattern associable with specific exposures. We look at the mechanistic evidence associable to the role of miRNAs in the processes leading to environmental-induced pulmonary disease (i.e., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
环境污染已引起全球关注，对人类健康构成严重威胁。空气污染包含一系列有害物质，如颗粒物和重金属（如镉、铅和砷），通过影响地下水、土壤和空气对环境产生强烈影响。适应环境线索对于人类生存至关重要，这与诱导适应性表型有关。调节几个基因表达模式的表观遗传机制是提供对此的机制和预后见解的有前途的候选者。微 RNA（miRNA）具有响应环境因素的能力及其在确定表型方面的关键作用，因此符合这些特征。这些分子存在于细胞外液中，其表达模式具有器官、组织或细胞特异性。此外，其定量和定性分析的实验设置具有稳健性、标准化和经济性。在这篇综述中，我们提供了 miRNA 作为合适工具的作用的最新信息，这些工具可用于了解对毒物的生理病理反应背后的机制，以及与其特定暴露相关的表达模式的预后价值。我们研究了与 miRNA 在导致环境引起的肺部疾病（即慢性阻塞性肺疾病）的过程中相关的作用的机制证据。
