Benzo[a]pyrene and phenanthrene hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of longer-term air pollution exposure

Abstract

Urinary hydroxylated-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), with half-life less than 2 days, are established biomarkers of short-term exposure to PAHs, a ubiquitous constituent of air pollution mixture. In this study, we explore the use of PAHs-hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of longer-term exposure to air pollution by leveraging an extant resource of blood samples collected from 235 pregnant women residing in Rochester, NY. We measured red blood cells for benzo[a]pyrene-tetrols (BaPT) and phenanthrene-tetrols (PHET), both of which are hydrolysis products of PAH-hemoglobin adduct. We utilized previously estimated PM_2.5 and NO₂ concentrations within the 1 km² grid surrounding each participant's residence, calculated for up to 20 weeks before the blood collection date. Associations between PAHs tetrols and cumulative exposures to ambient PM_2.5 or NO₂ over different time periods were examined using a linear mixed-effects model with participant-specific random intercepts adjusting for season, gestation age, maternal age, maternal income level, and pre-pregnancy BMI. We observed positive associations between PHET concentration and cumulative PM_2.5 exposure over gestational weeks 12–17, and between BaPT concentration and cumulative PM_2.5 exposure over gestational weeks 3–16 prior to sample collection. Each interquartile range (IQR) increase in 14 week PM_2.5 exposure (1.26 μg m⁻³) was associated with a 9.02% (95% CI: 0.30%, 17.7%) increase in PHET and a 12.8% (95% CI: 1.09%, 23.5%) increase in BaPT levels. In contrast, no associations were observed between either biomarker and cumulative NO₂ exposures. These findings underscore the potential of PAH-hemoglobin adducts as longer-term (weeks to 4 months) exposure biomarkers of ambient PM_2.5.