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Review
. 2024 Mar 7;25(6):3081.
doi: 10.3390/ijms25063081.

Dark under the Lamp: Neglected Biological Pollutants in the Environment Are Closely Linked to Lung Cancer

Dongjie Wang  1 , Ben Chung-Lap Chan  1 , Bitian Zhang  1 , Katie Ching-Yau Wong  2 , Lea Ling-Yu Kan  1 , Chun-Kwok Wong  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Dark under the Lamp: Neglected Biological Pollutants in the Environment Are Closely Linked to Lung Cancer

Dongjie Wang et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Environmental pollutants are closely linked to lung cancer. The different types of environmental pollutants can be classified as chemical, physical, and biological. The roles of common chemical and physical pollutants such as PM2.5, smoking, radon, asbestos, and formaldehyde in lung cancer have been extensively studied. Notably, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the strong link between biological pollution and human health. Allergens such as house dust mites and pollen, as well as bacteria and viruses, are common biological pollutants. A few biological pollutants have been reported to promote lung cancer via inducing inflammatory cytokines secretion, such as IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β, as well as suppressing immunosurveillance by upregulating regulatory T (Treg) cells while dampening the function of CD8+ T cells and dendritic cells. However, the correlation between common biological hazards, such as SARS-CoV-2, human immunodeficiency viruses, Helicobacter pylori, and house dust mites, and lung cancer is not fully elucidated, and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Moreover, the majority of studies that have been performed in lung cancer and biological carcinogens were not based on the perspective of biological pollutants, which has challenged the systematicity and coherence in the field of biological pollutants in lung cancer. Here, in addition to reviewing the recent progress made in investigating the roles of allergens, viruses, and bacteria in lung cancer, we summarized the potential mechanisms underlying biological pollutants in lung cancer. Our narrative review can shed light on understanding the significance of biological pollutants in lung cancer, as well as inspire and broaden research ideas on lung cancer etiology.

Keywords: allergies; bacteria; biological pollutants; chronic inflammation; viruses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart depicting the process of publication selection in the field of environmental pollution and lung cancer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Keywords with word cloud generation and (B) keywords trend in the field of environmental pollution and lung cancer. Rstudio (version 2023.09.1+494) was used to initiate the online bibliometric analysis tool Bibiometrix. Citespace (6.2.R6) and Bibiometrix were used to analyze the keywords and keyword trends.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Search results from PubMed on the topics of biological pollution and lung cancer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Potential mechanisms underlying biological-pollutant-promoted lung cancer. Viruses, bacteria, and allergens are major types of biological pollutants and their possible pathogenic mechanisms on lung cancer are summarized based on the latest research progress. (A) SARS-CoV-2, HIV, HPV, and EBV can promote lung cancer development in two ways: by increasing pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in immune cells, or by directly activating inflammation signaling pathways in infected lung cancer cells, combined with up-regulation of oncogene transcription and downregulation of tumor suppressor gene. (B) H. pylori, S. pneumoniae, M.tb, and C. pneumoniae could increase lung cancer risk via dysfunction of CD8+ Tc cells and DCs, as well as promoting Treg cell proliferation. These bacteria can also stimulate inflammation signaling and promote inflammatory cytokine expression in the host. (C) Experimental research on allergens and lung cancer is rare, while a common asthmatic allergen HDM could promote lung cancer development via triggering macrophage-mediated NRLP3 activation and IL-1β expression.
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