Abstract
Lead (Pb) is one of the major contaminants in many industries, and imposes hazardous effects on multiple human organs and systems. Studies have shown that lead is able to induce the alteration of microRNA (miRNA) expression in serum and organs. In this study we investigated whether polymorphisms in miRNA-regulating genes were associated with the risk of lead exposure. We genotyped seven single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 113 lead-sensitive and 113 lead-resistant lead-related Chinese workers by Taqman analysis. The lead-sensitive group showed a significantly higher blood lead level (BLL) than the resistant group based on unconditional logistic regression results. One SNP in XPO5 extron (rs2257082) was significantly associated with lead-poisoning (p = 0.022, odds rate (OR) = 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07–2.47 in the C allele compared to the T allele). There were no significant associations between the other six SNPs and the blood lead levels. Therefore, polymorphism rs2257082 could be used to distinguish lead-resistant and lead-susceptible populations, and to develop more specific and accurate preventions.
Highlights
Lead (Pb) poses an enormous risk to human health due to its wide distribution in the environment and its extensive use in various industries
No significant differences were detected between sensitive workers and resistant workers for gender (p = 0.286), BMI (p = 0.289), smoking status (p = 0.310) and drinking (p = 0.078)
We discovered that XPO5 polymorphism is strongly associated with the susceptibility to lead poisoning, which backed our hypothesis that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNA-related genes could be associated with lead toxicity in occupational workers exposed to lead and implied that the C carriers of rs2257082 were more susceptible to occupational internal exposure to lead
Summary
Lead (Pb) poses an enormous risk to human health due to its wide distribution in the environment and its extensive use in various industries. It has been demonstrated that acute and chronic exposure to lead has irreversible toxicity in several human organs and systems, such as the nervous, hematopoietic, reproductive systems, as well as in the kidney and bones [1,2]. Even a low blood lead level (BLL). Developmental neurotoxicity has been observed for blood lead concentrations lower than 10 μg/dL in children [5,6]. Based on the known and established toxic effect, inorganic lead was defined as a potential human carcinogen (group 2A) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). There is an emergent need to identify valid biomarkers for predicting and preventing lead poisoning
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