Prenatal Black Carbon Exposure Is Associated with Neonatal IL-17/TNF Signaling and Altered Innate Immune Gene Expression Profiles in Cord Blood

In this prospective birth-cohort study nested within Born in Bradford’s Better Start, BC particles were quantified in umbilical cord blood using femtosecond pulsed-laser microscopy. Cord-blood leukocyte RNA was profiled using the BioSpyder TempO-Seq whole-transcriptome assay.

For 83 newborns with complete data, log₁₀-transformed BC concentrations were related to genome-wide gene expression using confounder-adjusted linear mixed-effects models, and gene set enrichment analyses were performed for KEGG pathways and Gene Ontology terms. Higher fetal BC burden was associated with IL-17 and TNF/NF-κB pathway activation, increased expression of sialic-acid-binding receptors, and decreased expression of neutrophil defensins and metabolic genes.