Abstract
Air pollution contributes to acute exacerbations of asthma and the development of asthma in children and adults. Airway epithelial cells interface innate and adaptive immune responses, and have been proposed to regulate much of the response to pollutants. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is a pivotal cytokine linking innate and Th2 adaptive immune disorders, and is upregulated by environmental pollutants, including ambient particulate matter (PM) and diesel exhaust particles (DEP). We show that DEP and ambient fine PM upregulate TSLP mRNA and human microRNA (hsa-miR)-375 in primary human bronchial epithelial cells (pHBEC). Moreover, transfection of pHBEC with anti-hsa-miR-375 reduced TSLP mRNA in DEP but not TNF-α-treated cells. In silico pathway evaluation suggested the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) as one possible target of miR-375. DEP and ambient fine PM (3 μg/cm(2)) downregulated AhR mRNA. Transfection of mimic-hsa-miR-375 resulted in a small downregulation of AhR mRNA compared with resting AhR mRNA. AhR mRNA was increased in pHBEC treated with DEP after transfection with anti-hsa-miR-375. Our data show that two pollutants, DEP and ambient PM, upregulate TSLP in human bronchial epithelial cells by a mechanism that includes hsa-miR-375 with complex regulatory effects on AhR mRNA. The absence of this pathway in TNF-α-treated cells suggests multiple regulatory pathways for TSLP expression in these cells.