Medical Laboratory, Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Shenzhen, China.
Medical Laboratory College, Hebei North University in China, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Feb 3;11:990051. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.990051. eCollection 2023.
Benzene is used as an industrial solvent, which may result in chronic benzene poisoning (CBP). Several studies suggested that CBP was associated with mitochondrial epigenetic regulation. This study aimed to explore the potential relation between CBP and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) methylation. This prospective observational study enrolled CBP patients admitted to Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases hospital and healthy individuals between 2018 and 2021. The white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HB), and platelet (PLT) counts and mtDNA methylation levels were measured using blood flow cytometry and targeted bisulfite sequencing, respectively. A total of 90 participants were recruited, including 30 cases of CBP (20 females, mean age 43.0 ± 8.0 years) and 60 healthy individuals (42 females, mean age 43.5 ± 11.5 years). This study detected 168 mitochondrial methylation sites >0 in all study subjects. The mtDNA methylation levels in the CBP cases were lower than the healthy individuals [median ± interquartile-range (IQR), 25th percentile, 75th percentile: (1.140 ± 0.570, 0.965, 1.535)% vs. median ± IQR, 25th percentile, 75th percentile: (1.705 ± 0.205,1.240,2.445)%, < 0.05]. Additionally, the spearman correlation analysis showed that the mtDNA methylation levels were positively correlated with the counts of circulating leukocytes [WBC ( = 0.048, = 0.036)] and platelets [PLT ( = 0.129, < 0.01)]. We provided solid evidence of association between CBP and aberrant mtDNA methylation.
苯被用作工业溶剂，可能导致慢性苯中毒（CBP）。几项研究表明，CBP 与线粒体表观遗传调控有关。本研究旨在探讨 CBP 与线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）甲基化之间的潜在关系。这项前瞻性观察研究纳入了 2018 年至 2021 年期间在深圳市职业病防治院住院的 CBP 患者和健康个体。使用血流细胞术和靶向亚硫酸氢盐测序分别测量白细胞（WBC）、红细胞（RBC）、血红蛋白（HB）和血小板（PLT）计数和 mtDNA 甲基化水平。共招募了 90 名参与者，包括 30 例 CBP（20 名女性，平均年龄 43.0 ± 8.0 岁）和 60 名健康个体（42 名女性，平均年龄 43.5 ± 11.5 岁）。本研究在所有研究对象中检测到了 168 个>0 的线粒体甲基化位点。CBP 病例的 mtDNA 甲基化水平低于健康个体[中位数±四分位距（IQR），25%分位数，75%分位数：（1.140±0.570，0.965，1.535）%比中位数±IQR，25%分位数，75%分位数：（1.705±0.205，1.240，2.445）%，<0.05]。此外，Spearman 相关分析表明，mtDNA 甲基化水平与循环白细胞计数[白细胞（ = 0.048， = 0.036）]和血小板计数[血小板（ = 0.129，<0.01）]呈正相关。我们提供了 CBP 与异常 mtDNA 甲基化之间关联的有力证据。
