Henan Province Engineering Research Center for Biomass Value-Added Products, School of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China.
Neuroinflammation Group, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2024 Jun;43(2):657-672. doi: 10.1007/s10555-023-10142-x. Epub 2023 Nov 1.
Air pollutants are increasingly emitted into the atmosphere because of the high dependency of humans on fossil-derived fuels. Wind speed and direction assisted high dispersibility and uncontrolled nature of air pollution across geo-/demographical borders, making it one of the major global concerns. Besides climate change, air pollution has been found to be associated with various diseases, such as cancer. Lung cancer, which is the world's most common type of cancer, has been found to be associated with traffic-related air pollution. Research and political efforts have been taken to explore green/renewable energy sources. However, these efforts at the current intensity cannot cope with the increasing need for fossil fuels. More specifically, political tensions such as the Russian-Ukraine war, economic tension (e.g., China-USA economic tensions), and other issues (e.g., pandemic, higher inflation rate, and poverty) significantly hindered phasing out fossil fuels. In this context, an increasing global population will be exposed to traffic-related air pollution, which justifies the current uptrend in the number of lung cancer patients. To combat this health burden, novel treatments with higher efficiency and specificity must be designed. One of the potential "life changer" options is microRNA (miRNA)-based therapy to target the expression of oncogenic genes. That said, this review discusses the association of traffic-related air pollution with lung cancer, the changes in indigenous miRNAs in the body during lung cancer, and the current status of miRNA therapeutics for lung cancer treatment. We believe that the article will significantly appeal to a broad readership of oncologists, environmentalists, and those who work in the field of (bio)energy. It may also gain the policymakers' attention to establish better health policies and regulations about air pollution, for example, by promoting (bio)fuel exploration, production, and consumption.
由于人类高度依赖化石燃料，空气污染物日益排放到大气中。风速和风向有助于空气污染物在地理/人口边界的高分散性和不受控制的特性，使其成为全球主要关注的问题之一。除了气候变化，空气污染已被发现与各种疾病有关，如癌症。肺癌是世界上最常见的癌症类型，已被发现与交通相关的空气污染有关。已经进行了研究和政治努力来探索绿色/可再生能源。然而，以目前的强度，这些努力无法满足对化石燃料的日益增长的需求。更具体地说，俄罗斯-乌克兰战争等政治紧张局势、经济紧张局势（例如中美经济紧张局势）和其他问题（例如大流行病、更高的通货膨胀率和贫困）严重阻碍了逐步淘汰化石燃料。在这种情况下，不断增长的全球人口将暴露于交通相关的空气污染之下，这证明了目前肺癌患者数量呈上升趋势是合理的。为了应对这一健康负担，必须设计具有更高效率和特异性的新型治疗方法。一种潜在的“改变生活”的选择是基于 microRNA（miRNA）的治疗方法，以靶向致癌基因的表达。也就是说，本文讨论了交通相关的空气污染与肺癌的关联、肺癌患者体内内源性 miRNA 的变化以及 miRNA 治疗肺癌的现状。我们相信，这篇文章将引起肿瘤学家、环保主义者和（生物）能源领域工作者的广泛关注。它也可能引起政策制定者的关注，以制定更好的有关空气污染的健康政策和法规，例如，通过促进（生物）燃料的勘探、生产和消费。
