Center for Genomic Medicine, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA.
Organic Analytical Laboratory, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA.
Biomolecules. 2023 Jan 12;13(1):155. doi: 10.3390/biom13010155.
Emissions generated by wildfires are a growing threat to human health and are characterized by a unique chemical composition that is tightly dependent on geographic factors such as fuel type. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNA molecules proven to be critical to many biological processes, and their condition-specific expression patterns are emerging as prominent prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for human disease. We utilized a new air-liquid interface (ALI) direct exposure system that we designed and validated in house to expose immortalized human tracheobronchial epithelial cells (AALE) to two unique wildfire smokes representative of geographic regions (Sierra Forest and Great Basin). We conducted an RNAseq analysis on the exposed cell cultures and proved through both principal component and differential expression analysis that each smoke has a unique effect on the LncRNA expression profiles of the exposed cells when compared to the control samples. Our study proves that there is a link between the geographic origin of wildfire smoke and the resulting LncRNA expression profile in exposed lung cells and also serves as a proof of concept for the in-house designed ALI exposure system. Our study serves as an introduction to the scientific community of how unique expression patterns of LncRNAs in patients with wildfire smoke-related disease can be utilized as prognostic and diagnostic tools, as the current roles of LncRNA expression profiles in wildfire smoke-related disease, other than this study, are completely uncharted.
野火产生的排放物对人类健康构成了日益严重的威胁，其特点是化学组成独特，紧密依赖于地理因素，如燃料类型。长链非编码 RNA（lncRNA）是一类已被证明对许多生物过程至关重要的 RNA 分子，其特定条件下的表达模式正成为人类疾病突出的预后和诊断生物标志物。我们利用了我们自行设计和验证的新型气液界面（ALI）直接暴露系统，将永生化人气管支气管上皮细胞（AALE）暴露于两种代表地理区域的独特野火烟雾中（塞拉森林和大盆地）。我们对暴露的细胞培养物进行了 RNAseq 分析，并通过主成分和差异表达分析证明，与对照样品相比，每种烟雾对暴露细胞的 lncRNA 表达谱都有独特的影响。我们的研究证明，野火烟雾的地理起源与暴露肺部细胞中产生的 lncRNA 表达谱之间存在联系，并且还证明了内部设计的 ALI 暴露系统的概念验证。我们的研究向科学界介绍了如何将与野火烟雾相关疾病患者中 lncRNA 的独特表达模式用作预后和诊断工具，因为除了这项研究之外，lncRNA 表达谱在与野火烟雾相关的疾病中的作用目前完全是未知的。
