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. 2017 Oct 31;37(5):BSR20171111.
doi: 10.1042/BSR20171111. Print 2017 Oct 31.

Identification of differential plasma miRNA profiles in Chinese workers with occupational lead exposure

Ming Xu  1 , Zhengmin Yu  2 , Feifei Hu  3 , Hongbing Zhang  2 , Lixin Zhong  2 , Lei Han  2 , Yan An  4 , Baoli Zhu  2 , Hengdong Zhang  1   4
Affiliations

Identification of differential plasma miRNA profiles in Chinese workers with occupational lead exposure

Ming Xu et al. Biosci Rep. .

Abstract

Elevated lead absorptions are hazardous factors in lead-related workers. Previous studies have found its toxic impacts on nervous, circulatory, and metabolic systems. We hypothesized that alteration of miRNAs profile in plasma was closely associated with lead exposure. We analyzed to identify lead-related miRNAs in workers occupationally exposed to lead. Microarray assay was performed to detect plasma miRNA between workers with high and minimal lead exposure in the discovery stage. The following prediction of miRNAs' candidate target genes was carried out by using miRecords, STRING, and KEGG databases. We finally identified four miRNAs significantly associated with high level of blood lead. miR-520c-3p (*P=0.014), miR-211 (*P=0.019), and miR-148a (*P=0.031) were downexpressed in workers with high lead exposure and with high blood lead level (BLL), while miR-572(*P=0.027) displayed an opposite profile. Functional analysis of miRNAs displayed that these miRNAs could trigger different cellular genes and pathways. People under chronic lead exposure had a diverse 'fingerprint' plasma miRNA profile. Our study suggested that miR-520c-3p, miR-211, miR-148a, and miR-572 were the potential biomarkers for lead susceptibility in Chinese.

Keywords: blood lead level; chronic lead exposure; diagnosis; microRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Differentially expressed miRNAs between highly internal lead-exposed and minimally internal lead-exposed workers in microarray. Fold change ≥2.0
The red color indicates up-regulated miRNAs and the green color indicates down-regulated miRNAs. The symbol (*) represents the miRNA minor.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Significant plasma expressions of testing miRNAs in two groups
(A) miR-520c-3p profile; (B) miR-211 profile; (C) miR-148a profile; (D) miR-572 profile. *P: P-value adjusted for sex, age, BMI, smoking, and education, drinking, and eating habits in workplace.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Functional analysis of miRNAs’ target genes
(A) miR-520c-3p’s target genes; (B) miR-211’s target genes; (C) miR-148a’s target genes; and (D) miR-572’s target genes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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