Abstract
Sea spray aerosols (SSAs) have profound effects on our climate and ecosystems. They also contain microbiota and biogenic molecules which could affect human health. Yet the exposure and effects of SSAs on human health remain poorly studied. Here, we exposed human lung cancer cells to extracts of a natural sea spray aerosol collected at the seashore in Belgium, a laboratory-generated SSA, the marine algal toxin homoyessotoxin and a chemical inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. We observed significant increased expression of genes related to the mTOR pathway and Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) after exposure to homoyessotoxin and the laboratory-generated SSA. In contrast, we observed a significant decrease in gene expression in the mTOR pathway and of PCSK9 after exposure to the natural SSA and the mTOR inhibitor, suggesting induction of apoptosis. Our results indicate that marine biogenics in SSAs interact with PCSK9 and the mTOR pathway and can be used in new potential pharmaceutical applications. Overall, our results provide a substantial molecular evidence base for potential beneficial health effects at environmentally relevant concentrations of natural SSAs.
Highlights
Oceans and seas contain a variety of biogenic or naturally produced molecules that become airborne via sea spray aerosolization[1,2,3]
We will address the following research questions: (1) the effects of pure hYTX as shown in previous studies are similar to the effects of a SSA extract generated using a laboratory aerosol tank inoculated with a hYTX producer at the same hYTX dose levels, (2) the effects of a SSA extract generated using a laboratory aerosol tank can be extrapolated to effects of a natural SSA collected at the seashore at more environmentally realistic dose levels and (3) hYTX, a SSA extract generated in the lab and a natural collected SSA extract all interact with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway in human lung cell lines
We identified two differentially expressed (DE) genes shared by all high dose level treatments and the mTOR inhibitor (Fig. 1B) and three DE genes shared by all high dose level treatments
Summary
Oceans and seas contain a variety of biogenic or naturally produced molecules that become airborne via sea spray aerosolization[1,2,3]. We hypothesize that beneficial health effects of SSAs in coastal environments can be attributed to interactions between marine biogenics such as yessotoxin and the mTOR pathway To this end, we exposed human epithelial lung cells to extracts of (1) the pure bioactive molecule homoyessotoxin (hYTX), (2) a SSA generated in a laboratory tank inoculated with the homoyessotoxin producing dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum[27], (3) a natural SSA collected at the seashore, and (4) a chemical inhibitor of the mTOR pathway (Torkinib/PP242). We aim to provide molecular evidence to support the hypothesis that SSAs are a source of health benefits such as anti-cancer, positive cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory effects
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