Abstract
The association between long-term exposure to e-waste and poor health is well established, but how e-waste exposure affects DNA methylation is understudied. In this study, we measured the DNA damage levels and the alternation of DNA methylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from a population exposed to e-waste. The concentration of 28 PCB congeners in the blood samples of e-waste recycling workers was elevated than those of the reference group. DNA damage levels were significantly higher than that of samples from the reference group by detecting the SCGE, CA, and CBMN assays. Eventually, we found that the methylation level of 1233 gene loci was changed in the exposure group. Bioinformatic analysis of differential genes revealed that the hypermethylated genes were enriched in cell component movement and regulation of cell function, and hypomethylated genes were involved in the cellular metabolic process. Among the 30 genes we tested, 14 genes showed a negative correlation between methylation level and expression level. Therefore, e-waste exposure potentially increased the levels of DNA damage and alters DNA methylation, which would likely impact human health.
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Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 31971168, 81972976, 31900891, 32071241, 32171239, 82273580) and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (21JCYBJC01510).
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Qiang Liu and Liqing Du contributed to the conception or design of the work. Na Li, Jinhan Wang, Kejun Li, and Ping Yang contributed to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data. Yan Wang, Chang Xu, Ningning He, Kaihua Ji, Huijuan Song, and Manman Zhang contributed to the creation of new software used in the work. Na Li and Jinhan Wang drafted the work or substantively revised it. All authors have approved the submitted version. All authors have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author’s own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.
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Exposure of major PCB congeners in samples (DOCX 288 kb)
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Li, ., Wang, J., Li, K. et al. Influence of e-waste exposure on DNA damage and DNA methylation in people living near recycling sites. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 88744–88756 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28591-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28591-w