Journal Article

Chronic air pollution-induced subclinical airway inflammation and polygenic susceptibility

Zhao, Qi, Schwender, Holger, Schikowski, Tamara, Abramson, Michael J., Kress, Sara, Wigmann, Claudia, Herder, Christian

2022

Overview

Background Air pollutants can activate low-grade subclinical inflammation which further impairs respiratory health. We aimed to investigate the role of polygenic susceptibility to chronic air pollution-induced subclinical airway inflammation. Methods We used data from 296 women (69–79 years) enrolled in the population-based SALIA cohort (Study on the influence of Air pollution on Lung function, Inflammation and Aging). Biomarkers of airway inflammation were measured in induced-sputum samples at follow-up investigation in 2007–2010. Chronic air pollution exposures at residential addresses within 15 years prior to the biomarker assessments were used to estimate main environmental effects on subclinical airway inflammation. Furthermore, we calculated internally weighted polygenic risk scores based on genome-wide derived single nucleotide polymorphisms. Polygenic main and gene-environment interaction (GxE) effects were investigated by adjusted linear regression models. Results Higher exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of ≤ 2.5 μm, ≤ 10 μm, and 2.5–10 µm significantly increased the levels of leukotriene (LT)B 4 by 19.7% (p-value = 0.005), 20.9% (p = 0.002), 22.1% (p = 0.004), 17.4% (p = 0.004), and 23.4% (p = 0.001), respectively. We found significant effects of NO 2 (25.9%, p = 0.008) and NO x (25.9%, p-value = 0.004) on the total number of cells. No significant GxE effects were observed. The trends were mostly robust in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions While this study confirms that higher chronic exposures to air pollution increase the risk of subclinical airway inflammation in elderly women, we could not demonstrate a significant role of polygenic susceptibility on this pathway. Further studies are required to investigate the role of polygenic susceptibility. Graphical Abstract

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Nature Publishing Group,BMC
• Subject: Aged / Aging / Air pollution / Airway (Medicine) / Biomarkers / Body mass index / Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / Datasets / Diameters / Education / Environmental aspects / Environmental effects / Exposure / Gene-environment interaction / Genomes / Genotype-environment interactions / Geriatrics / Health aspects / Health risk assessment / Indoor air quality / Inflammation / Leukotriene B4 / Lung / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Multifactorial diseases / Neutrophils / Nitrogen dioxide / Nitrogen oxides / Nucleotides / Older people / Oxidative stress / Particulate matter / Photochemicals / Pneumology/Respiratory System / Pollutants / Population studies / Pulmonary arteries / Regression analysis / Regression models / Respiratory function / Respiratory tract / Respiratory tract diseases / Risk factors / Sensitivity analysis / Single-nucleotide polymorphism / Sputum / Susceptibility / Tumor necrosis factor-TNF / Womens health