title: Benzene-Induced Aberrant miRNA Expression Profile in Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells in C57BL/6 Mice.
abstract: 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 hematopoiesis and hematopoiesis-associated miRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. 230129497@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. 101011288@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. 220122806@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kehong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. 230109509@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Rongli
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. lhyin@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. yppu@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuepu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001554:Benzene / Q000633:toxicity*; D002452:Cell Count; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices / Q000187:drug effects; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D035683:MicroRNAs; D001554:Benzene
keywords: benzene; hematopoietic progenitor cells; miRNA