Mechanistic insights into cardiovascular toxicity induced by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) as an example

Abstract

Environmental contamination has emerged as a critical global public health challenge. Among persistent organic pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exhibit concerning bioaccumulation potential in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, with demonstrated cardiotoxic effects in humans. Nevertheless, the precise molecular pathogenesis of PAH-mediated cardiovascular damage requires further elucidation. This investigation adopts a multi-modal computational strategy integrating network toxicology with molecular docking to systematically characterize PAH-induced cardiovascular toxicity mechanisms. Comprehensive toxicity profiling was performed through ADMETlab 3.0 and ProTox3.0 platforms, while putative molecular targets were identified via SwissTargetPrediction, ChEMBL, SEA, and CTD repositories. Disease-relevant targets were curated from GeneCards and OMIM databases. Integrated analysis combining Venn diagram, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and Cytoscape 3.9.1 visualization identified critical common targets. Functional annotation using Metascape and DAVID elucidated the crucial associated biological processes, cellular compartments, and molecular functions. Pathway enrichment analysis identified dominant signaling pathways, primarily the PI3K-AKT and MAPK cascades, along with those involved in hemodynamic stress/atherogenesis and oncogenic networks. Molecular docking coupled with molecular dynamics simulations further confirmed robust and energetically favorable interactions between PAH compounds and core toxicity targets. Collectively, using BaP as a paradigm, this in-silico study demonstrates an integrative computational workflow to investigate PAH-induced cardiovascular toxicity, proposing candidate molecular targets and pathways, which exemplifies the utility of multi-level bioinformatics in generating hypotheses for toxicological evaluation.