Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.

Benzene, a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, causes acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, through transcriptome profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we reported dose-dependent effects of benzene exposure on gene expression and biochemical pathways in 83 workers exposed across...

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Main Authors: Reuben Thomas, Alan E Hubbard, Cliona M McHale, Luoping Zhang, Stephen M Rappaport, Qing Lan, Nathaniel Rothman, Roel Vermeulen, Kathryn Z Guyton, Jennifer Jinot, Babasaheb R Sonawane, Martyn T Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091828&type=printable
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author Reuben Thomas
Alan E Hubbard
Cliona M McHale
Luoping Zhang
Stephen M Rappaport
Qing Lan
Nathaniel Rothman
Roel Vermeulen
Kathryn Z Guyton
Jennifer Jinot
Babasaheb R Sonawane
Martyn T Smith
author_facet Reuben Thomas
Alan E Hubbard
Cliona M McHale
Luoping Zhang
Stephen M Rappaport
Qing Lan
Nathaniel Rothman
Roel Vermeulen
Kathryn Z Guyton
Jennifer Jinot
Babasaheb R Sonawane
Martyn T Smith
author_sort Reuben Thomas
collection DOAJ
description Benzene, a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, causes acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, through transcriptome profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we reported dose-dependent effects of benzene exposure on gene expression and biochemical pathways in 83 workers exposed across four airborne concentration ranges (from <1 ppm to >10 ppm) compared with 42 subjects with non-workplace ambient exposure levels. Here, we further characterize these dose-dependent effects with continuous benzene exposure in all 125 study subjects. We estimated air benzene exposure levels in the 42 environmentally-exposed subjects from their unmetabolized urinary benzene levels. We used a novel non-parametric, data-adaptive model selection method to estimate the change with dose in the expression of each gene. We describe non-parametric approaches to model pathway responses and used these to estimate the dose responses of the AML pathway and 4 other pathways of interest. The response patterns of majority of genes as captured by mean estimates of the first and second principal components of the dose-response for the five pathways and the profiles of 6 AML pathway response-representative genes (identified by clustering) exhibited similar apparent supra-linear responses. Responses at or below 0.1 ppm benzene were observed for altered expression of AML pathway genes and CYP2E1. Together, these data show that benzene alters disease-relevant pathways and genes in a dose-dependent manner, with effects apparent at doses as low as 100 ppb in air. Studies with extensive exposure assessment of subjects exposed in the low-dose range between 10 ppb and 1 ppm are needed to confirm these findings.
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spelling doaj-art-8a26ea5b2a6c482c949a17c23b93901b2025-08-20T03:00:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0195e9182810.1371/journal.pone.0091828Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.Reuben ThomasAlan E HubbardCliona M McHaleLuoping ZhangStephen M RappaportQing LanNathaniel RothmanRoel VermeulenKathryn Z GuytonJennifer JinotBabasaheb R SonawaneMartyn T SmithBenzene, a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, causes acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, through transcriptome profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we reported dose-dependent effects of benzene exposure on gene expression and biochemical pathways in 83 workers exposed across four airborne concentration ranges (from <1 ppm to >10 ppm) compared with 42 subjects with non-workplace ambient exposure levels. Here, we further characterize these dose-dependent effects with continuous benzene exposure in all 125 study subjects. We estimated air benzene exposure levels in the 42 environmentally-exposed subjects from their unmetabolized urinary benzene levels. We used a novel non-parametric, data-adaptive model selection method to estimate the change with dose in the expression of each gene. We describe non-parametric approaches to model pathway responses and used these to estimate the dose responses of the AML pathway and 4 other pathways of interest. The response patterns of majority of genes as captured by mean estimates of the first and second principal components of the dose-response for the five pathways and the profiles of 6 AML pathway response-representative genes (identified by clustering) exhibited similar apparent supra-linear responses. Responses at or below 0.1 ppm benzene were observed for altered expression of AML pathway genes and CYP2E1. Together, these data show that benzene alters disease-relevant pathways and genes in a dose-dependent manner, with effects apparent at doses as low as 100 ppb in air. Studies with extensive exposure assessment of subjects exposed in the low-dose range between 10 ppb and 1 ppm are needed to confirm these findings.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091828&type=printable
spellingShingle Reuben Thomas
Alan E Hubbard
Cliona M McHale
Luoping Zhang
Stephen M Rappaport
Qing Lan
Nathaniel Rothman
Roel Vermeulen
Kathryn Z Guyton
Jennifer Jinot
Babasaheb R Sonawane
Martyn T Smith
Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
PLoS ONE
title Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
title_full Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
title_fullStr Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
title_short Characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure.
title_sort characterization of changes in gene expression and biochemical pathways at low levels of benzene exposure
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091828&type=printable
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