Benzene-Induced Aberrant miRNA Expression Profile in Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells in C57BL/6 Mice

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Haiyan Wei¹  Juan Zhang¹  Kehong Tan²  Rongli Sun²  Lihong Yin²  Yuepu Pu¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China

关键词: benzene;    miRNA;    hematopoietic progenitor cells;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms161126001

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Benzene is a common environmental pollutant that causes hematological alterations. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may play a role in benzene-induced hematotoxicity. In this study, C57BL/6 mice showed significant hematotoxicity after exposure to 150 mg/kg benzene for 4 weeks. Benzene exposure decreased not only the number of cells in peripheral blood but also hematopoietic progenitor cells in the bone marrow. Meanwhile, RNA from Lin⁻ cells sorted from the bone marrow was applied to aberrant miRNA expression profile using Illumina sequencing. We found that 5 miRNAs were overexpressed and 45 miRNAs were downregulated in the benzene exposure group. Sequencing results were confirmed through qRT-PCR. Furthermore, we also identified five miRNAs which significantly altered in Lin⁻c-Kit⁺ cells obtained from benzene-exposed mice, including mmu-miR-34a-5p; mmu-miR-342-3p; mmu-miR-100-5p; mmu-miR-181a-5p; and mmu-miR-196b-5p. In summary, we successfully established a classical animal model to induce significant hematotoxicity by benzene injection. Benzene exposure may cause severe hematotoxicity not only to blood cells in peripheral circulation but also to hematopoietic cells in bone marrow. Benzene exposure also alters miRNA expression in hematopoietic progenitor cells. This study suggests that benzene induces alteration in hematopoiesisand hematopoiesis-associated miRNAs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.