Prenatal air pollutant exposure may negatively impact cell processes in healthy newborns

Key takeaways:

• Levels of three proteins related to autophagy changed with prenatal nitrogen dioxide exposure.
• Researchers note an “individual response” to nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter in newborns.

Traffic-related pollutant exposure during pregnancy may negatively impact autophagy in healthy newborns, according to a presentation at the European Respiratory Society International Congress.

Autophagy is a cell process in which one’s cells consume damaged cells as a response to stress, according to a European Respiratory Society press release.

Olga Gorlanova

“The knowledge gained from our research contributes to the overall understanding of how autophagy may play a role in the defense against the harmful effect of air pollution,” Olga Gorlanova, MD, research physician at the University Children’s Hospital, University of Basel, Switzerland, told Healio. “Findings from our study may provide a basis for the development of clinical applications that could target the autophagy pathway for prevention of air-pollution-related lung disease (eg, asthma, COPD).”

Using the Bern Basel Infant Lung Development birth cohort study, Gorlanova and colleagues assessed 449 healthy term babies to determine if prenatal exposure to traffic-related pollutants (nitrogen dioxide and fine particle matter of 10 µm or less) changes levels of 11 different autophagy-related proteins found in serum and plasma of cord blood.

With prenatal exposure to nitrogen dioxide, researchers observed lower expressions of SIRT1 and IL-8 in newborns through an adjusted multiple Tobit regression model. This type of air pollutant exposure was also linked to elevated levels of Beclin-1 protein, which Gorlanova noted plays a key role in starting autophagy.

Further, researchers used protein concentrations to group newborns together, revealing four different clusters each with differing prenatal exposure levels to the two studied pollutants.

Researchers noted that two of these clusters — both of which were exposed to lower levels of prenatal air pollution than the others — showed differing concentrations of proteins, indicating that newborns may have individualized responses to air pollution. Specifically, one cluster had low levels of nine proteins and the other cluster had increased levels of IL-8 and IL-1B (inflammatory and remodeling proteins)

“Our hypothesis was that healthy newborns have an individual response to air pollution and that the air pollution during pregnancy may cause changes in the level of proteins involved in the autophagy,” Gorlanova told Healio. “Even though our hypothesis was proved, it is still remarkable that air pollution can affect a baby even before it is born.”

Notably, “distinct protein-protein correlation patterns” were observed when analyzing the four clusters of newborns, according to researchers.

“Future research should confirm our findings by replicating them in other studies,” Gorlanova told Healio. “The next step would be also to see whether this effect occurs in older children.”

“This study is not a stand-alone science project,” she added. “We work within a large research group based across Switzerland and we also collaborate with several other international research groups. This single study is part of a much larger research effort: all the researchers work together to build a better picture of lung development in unborn children, infants and older children, and how the environment (including air pollution) can impact human health.”

Reference:

• Exposure to air pollution while in the womb is linked to adverse changes in cell processes in new-born babies. https://www.ersnet.org/news-and-features/news/exposure-to-air-pollution-while-in-the-womb-is-linked-to-adverse-changes-in-cell-processes-in-new-born-babies/. Published Sept. 12, 2023. Accessed Sept. 12, 2023.