Themechanismofhealtheffectscausedbyorganohalogenpollutants,e.g.,toxinsfromelectronicwaste(e-waste),ispoorlyunderstood.WesupposedthatmicroRNAs(miRNAs),animportantpost-transcriptionalregulator,couldplayaroleinthisprocess.Inthisstudy,fastingperipheralbloodsampleswerecollectedfromresidentslivingatane-wastesiteinnorthernChinaandanearbyreferencepopulation.Concentrationsofe-wasterelatedorganohalogenpollutantsinplasmafromtheexposuregroupwerehigherthanthecorrespondingmeasurementinthereferencegroup.Correspondingly,sixtymiRNAsinplasmashowed>2-foldchangebetweenthetwogroupsinmicroarrayanalysis.Amongthem,miR-125a-5pwasconfirmedtobeupregulatedbyqRT-PCRanditsvalidatedtargetswereenrichedinresponsestoxenobioticsandcancerrelatedpathways.Furthermore,significantpositivecorrelationswerefoundbetweenlevelsofmiR-125a-5pinplasmaandreactiveoxygenspecies(ROS)inpolymorphonuclearneutrophilleukocytes(P<0.05).Theseevidencessuggestedoxidativestressmightbeanintermediatebetweene-wasterelatedPOPsexposureandalterationofplasmamiRNA.
