Environmental benzene exposure induces a conserved neutrophil degranulation program across species.

Abstract

Immune systems have evolved under constant pressure from pathogens and environmental challenges, leading to the emergence of conserved defense mechanisms across diverse organisms. Evidence indicates that environmental exposures perturb immune regulatory networks, particularly during development, when transcriptional programs governing hematopoiesis, immune cell differentiation, and inflammatory signaling are highly dynamic and sensitive to external stressors. Volatile organic compounds represent an important but incompletely understood source of immunological perturbation. Among these, benzene is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant associated with hematotoxicity and immune dysregulation; however, transcriptional responses to environmentally relevant low-level exposures during development remain poorly characterized. To determine whether benzene exposure engages conserved cross-species immune regulatory pathways, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis integrating developmental tissues from 3 vertebrate systems: human placenta, murine placenta, and zebrafish larvae. Bulk RNA sequencing datasets were analyzed to identify transcriptional responses associated with benzene exposure in experimental models (≤5 ppm) and with benzene adduct levels in maternal plasma for human samples. Because placental gene expression exhibits strong sexual dimorphism, murine datasets were stratified by fetal sex. Pathway- and network-level analyses were used to identify conserved biological responses. We observed a striking convergence on activation of innate immune pathways associated with neutrophil degranulation, IL-8 signaling, and Rho GTPase-mediated inflammatory responses. Further, network analyses identified CXCL8 and ERK1/2 as shared regulatory hubs linking transcriptional responses across datasets. Together, these findings uncover an evolutionarily conserved innate immune signature associated with benzene exposure during vertebrate development, suggesting that environmental chemical perturbations may disrupt fundamental immune regulatory programs across species.