Abstract
Airborne particulate matter (PM) is a major environmental health concern associated with 9 million excess deaths annually worldwide. However, understanding of the toxicological characteristics of shipping-related PM is limited.
This study aimed to investigate the toxicology of coarse (10-2.5µm), fine (2.5-0.1µm) and ultrafine (UF; <0.1μm) PM collected within the Port of Southampton including road, cargo shipping and cruise ship terminal sites in and out of cruise season.
PM composition was determined by inductively coupled mass spectrometry. 16HBE14o- bronchial epithelial cells were exposed to 100 µg/ml PM for 24h with measurement of transcriptomic changes (RNA-Seq), inflammatory mediator release (multiplex ELISA), phosphotyrosine levels (western blot) and phosphorylated receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs; phospho-RTK array).
We observed increased concentrations of ship emission-associated elements (V, Ni) in cruise site UFPM in high season. RNA-Seq analysis showed upregulation of genes associated with inflammatory signalling and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cells treated with high season cruise site UFPM compared to low season UFPM. Accordingly, there was increased inflammatory mediator release (IL-1α/β, IL-8, IL-6, TNFα) elicited by cruise high season UFPM. We also observed increased tyrosine phosphorylation with increased phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) identified.
These data show that shipping-associated PM has size- and source-dependent composition. Increased inflammogenicity and protein phosphorylation from high season UFPM exposure is suggestive of a potential role in inflammatory and fibrotic lung diseases.
Footnotes
Cite this article as ERJ Open Research 2022; 8: Suppl. 8, 206.
This article was presented at the 2022 ERS Lung Science Conference, in session “Poster Session 2”.
This is an ERS Lung Science Conference abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2022