China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, National Institute of Environmental Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
Environ Health Perspect. 2024 Jul;132(7):77005. doi: 10.1289/EHP13865. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Evidence suggested that abiotic airborne exposures may be associated with changes in body composition. However, more evidence is needed to identify key pollutants linked to adverse health effects and their underlying biomolecular mechanisms, particularly in sensitive older adults.
Our research aimed to systematically assess the relationship between abiotic airborne exposures and changes in body composition among healthy older adults, as well as the potential mediating mechanisms through the serum lipidome.
From September 2018 to January 2019, we conducted a monthly survey among 76 healthy adults (60-69 years old) in the China Biomarkers of Air Pollutant Exposure (BAPE) study, measuring their personal exposures to 632 abiotic airborne pollutions using MicroPEM and the Fresh Air wristband, 18 body composition indicators from the InBody 770 device, and lipidomics from venous blood samples. We used an exposome-wide association study (ExWAS) and deletion/substitution/addition (DSA) model to unravel complex associations between exposure to contaminant mixtures and body composition, a Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) model to assess the overall effect of key exposures on body composition, and mediation analysis to identify lipid intermediators.
The ExWAS and DSA model identified that 2,4,5-T methyl ester (2,4,5-TME), 9,10-Anthracenedione (ATQ), 4b,8-dimethyl-2-isopropylphenanthrene, and 4b,5,6,7,8,8a,9,10-octahydro-(DMIP) were associated with increased body fat mass (BFM), fat mass indicators (FMI), percent body fat (PBF), and visceral fat area (VFA) in healthy older adults [Bonferroni-Hochberg false discovery rate ]. The BKMR model demonstrated a positive correlation between contaminants (anthracene, ATQ, copaene, di-epi--cedrene, and DMIP) with VFA. Mediation analysis revealed that phosphatidylcholine [PC, PC(16:1e/18:1), PC(16:2e/18:0)] and sphingolipid [SM, SM(d18:2/24:1)] mediated a significant portion, ranging from 12.27% to 26.03% (-value ), of the observed increase in VFA.
Based on the evidence from multiple model results, ATQ and DMIP were statistically significantly associated with the increased VFA levels of healthy older adults, potentially regulated through lipid intermediators. These findings may have important implications for identifying potentially harmful environmental chemicals and developing targeted strategies for the control and prevention of chronic diseases in the future, particularly as the global population is rapidly aging. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13865.
有证据表明，非生物性空气污染物暴露可能与人体成分的变化有关。然而，为了确定与不良健康影响相关的关键污染物及其潜在的生物分子机制，还需要更多的证据，特别是在敏感的老年人群中。
本研究旨在系统评估非生物性空气污染物暴露与健康老年人身体成分变化之间的关系，并通过血清脂质组学探讨潜在的中介机制。
2018 年 9 月至 2019 年 1 月，我们在中国生物标志物大气污染物暴露研究（BAPE）中对 76 名健康老年人（60-69 岁）进行了每月调查，使用 MicroPEM 和 Fresh Air 腕带测量他们对 632 种非生物性空气污染物的个人暴露情况，使用 InBody 770 设备测量 18 项身体成分指标，并从静脉血样中测量脂质组学。我们使用暴露组全关联研究（ExWAS）和删除/替换/添加（DSA）模型来揭示污染物混合物暴露与身体成分之间的复杂关联，使用贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）模型评估关键暴露对身体成分的总体影响，并使用中介分析来确定脂质中介物。
ExWAS 和 DSA 模型确定 2,4,5-T 甲基酯（2,4,5-TME）、9,10-蒽二酮（ATQ）、4b,8-二甲基-2-异丙基菲和 4b,5,6,7,8,8a,9,10-八氢-（DMIP）与健康老年人的体脂肪量（BFM）、脂肪量指标（FMI）、体脂百分比（PBF）和内脏脂肪面积（VFA）增加有关[Bonferroni-Hochberg 错误发现率]。BKMR 模型表明，污染物（蒽、ATQ、毕澄茄烯、双-epi--cedrene 和 DMIP）与 VFA 之间呈正相关。中介分析显示，磷脂酰胆碱[PC，PC（16:1e/18:1），PC（16:2e/18:0）]和鞘脂[SM，SM（d18:2/24:1）]介导了 VFA 观察到的增加的显著部分，范围为 12.27%-26.03%（-值）。
基于多项模型结果的证据，ATQ 和 DMIP 与健康老年人 VFA 水平的升高呈统计学显著相关，可能通过脂质中介物进行调节。这些发现可能对识别潜在有害的环境化学物质和制定未来慢性病控制和预防的针对性策略具有重要意义，特别是在全球人口迅速老龄化的情况下。
