Abstract

Combustion related particulate matter air pollution (PM) is associated with an increased risk of respiratory infections in adults. The exact mechanism underlying this association has not been determined. We hypothesized that increased concentrations of combustion related PM would result in dysregulation of the innate immune system. This epidemiological study includes 111 adult patients hospitalized with respiratory infections who underwent transcriptional analysis of their peripheral blood. We examined the association between gene expression at the time of hospitalization and ambient measurements of particulate air pollutants in the 28 days prior to hospitalization. For each pollutant and time lag, gene-specific linear models adjusting for infection type were fit using LIMMA (Linear Models For Microarray Data), and pathway/gene set analyses were performed using the CAMERA (Correlation Adjusted Mean Rank) program. Comparing patients with viral and/or bacterial infection, the expression patterns associated with air pollution exposure differed. Adjusting for the type of infection, increased concentrations of Delta-C (a marker of biomass smoke) and other PM were associated with upregulation of iron homeostasis and protein folding. Increased concentrations of black carbon (BC) were associated with upregulation of viral related gene pathways and downregulation of pathways related to antigen presentation. The pollutant/pathway associations differed by lag time and by type of infection. This study suggests that the effect of air pollution on the pathogenesis of respiratory infection may be pollutant, timing, and infection specific.

Details

Title
The effect of air pollution on the transcriptomics of the immune response to respiratory infection
Author
Croft, Daniel P 1 ; Burton, David S 2 ; Nagel, David J 1 ; Bhattacharya Soumyaroop 3 ; Falsey, Ann R 4 ; Georas, Steve N 1 ; Hopke, Philip K 5 ; Johnston, Carl J 3 ; Matthew, Kottmann R 1 ; Litonjua, Augusto A 1 ; Mariani, Thomas J 6 ; Rich, David Q 7 ; Thevenet-Morrison, Kelly 8 ; Thurston, Sally W 9 ; Utell, Mark J 1 ; McCall, Matthew N 9 

 University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Public Health Sciences, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); Clarkson University, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, and Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science, Potsdam, USA (GRID:grid.254280.9) (ISNI:0000 0001 0741 9486) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Biomedical Genetics, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Public Health Sciences, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Public Health Sciences, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
 University of Rochester Medical Center, Environmental Health Science Center, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166); University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Rochester, USA (GRID:grid.412750.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9166) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2577916171
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.