Abstract
Burning incense to worship deities is a popular religious ritual in large parts of Asia, and is a popular custom affecting more than 1.5 billion adherents. Due to incomplete combustion, burning incense has been well recognized to generate airborne hazards to human health. However, the correlation between burning incense and lung cancer in epidemiological studies remains controversy. Therefore, we speculated that some unknown materials in incense smoke are involved in the initiation or progression of lung cancer. Based on this hypothesis, we identified a major compound auramine O (AuO) from the water‐soluble fraction of incense burned condensate using mass spectrometry. AuO is commonly used in incense manufacture as a colorant. Due to thermostable, AuO released from burned incenses becomes an unexpected air pollutant. AuO is classified as a Group 2B chemical by the International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC), however, the damage of AuO to the respiratory system remains elusive. Our study revealed that AuO has no apparent effect on malignant transformation; but, it dramatically promotes lung cancer malignancy. AuO accumulates in the nucleus and induces the autophagy activity in lung tumor cells. AuO significantly enhances migration and invasive abilities and the in vitro and in vivo stemness features of lung tumor cells through activating the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member A1 (ALDH1A1), and ALDH1A1 knockdown attenuates AuO‐induced autophagy activity and blocks AuO‐induced lung tumor malignancy. In conclusion, we found that AuO, an ingredient of incense smoke, significantly increases the metastatic abilities and stemness characters of lung tumor cells through the activation of ALDH1A1, which is known to be associated with poor outcome and progression of lung cancer. For public health, reducing or avoiding the use of AuO in incense is recommended.
Highlights
Than 1.2 million temple goers who frequently visit temples and burn incense inside the temples.[2]
We found that auramine O (AuO) undergoes nuclear translocation and induces autophagy activity in lung tumor cells
These results suggest that aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member A1 (ALDH1A1) plays an important role in mediating AuO-induced lung cancer metastasis
Summary
Than 1.2 million temple goers who frequently visit temples and burn incense inside the temples.[2]. Particulate matters (PMs),[4,5,6] polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),[7,8,9] and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)[10,11,12] are hazardous materials commonly detected in incense smoke. The correlation between burning incense and lung tumor progression/malignancy remains controversy.[13] we speculated that the unidentified components in incense smoke could result in inconsistency on this issue. Water-soluble fraction in incense burned condensate (IBC) has long been ignored because organic matters are decomposed by combustion into small chemical compounds, most of which are organic-soluble or volatile such as PMs, PAHs, and VOCs. Whether water-soluble materials exist in incense smoke or they are correlated with cancer progression/malignancy is fully unknown. AuO significantly increases cell migration and invasive abilities through activating the stemness of tumor cells, which leads to tumor malignancy
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