American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology
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Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. · Jun 2014
Air toxics and epigenetic effects: ozone altered microRNAs in the sputum of human subjects.
Ozone (O3) is a criteria air pollutant that is associated with numerous adverse health effects, including altered respiratory immune responses. Despite its deleterious health effects, possible epigenetic mechanisms underlying O3-induced health effects remain understudied. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are epigenetic regulators of genomic response to environmental insults and unstudied in relationship to O3 inhalation exposure. ⋯ The miRNAs and their predicted targets were associated with a diverse range of biological functions and disease signatures, noted among them inflammation and immune-related disease. The present study shows that O3 inhalation exposure disrupts select miRNA expression profiles that are associated with inflammatory and immune response signaling. These findings provide novel insight into epigenetic regulation of responses to O3 exposure.