BackgroundAirway toxicity of indoor dust is not sufficiently understood.ObjectivesOur goal in this study was to describe the effects of indoor dust on human monocyte, epithelial, and lymphocyte cell lines. We aimed to a) obtain a comprehensive and intelligible outline of the transcriptional response; b) correlate differential transcription with cellular protein secretion; c) identify cell line–specific features; and d) search for indoor dust–specific responses.MethodsSettled dust was sampled in 42 German households, and various contaminants were characterized. We exposed Mono Mac 6, BEAS-2B, and Jurkat cells to 500 μg/mL indoor dust for 6 hr. Outcome parameters included the transcriptional profile of an oligonucleotide microarray covering 1,232 genes. Significantly enriched Gene Ontology themes were calculated. Supernatant protein levels of 24 inflammatory response proteins served to confirm transcriptional results.ResultsAn intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.8 indicated reasonable microarray reproducibility. The transcriptional profile was characterized by enhancement of detoxification and a danger and defense response. Differential gene regulation correlated with protein secretion (Goodman and Kruskal’s gamma coefficient: 0.72; p < 0.01). Mono Mac 6 cells revealed the highest fraction of differentially expressed genes, dominated by up-regulation of various cytokines and chemokines. BEAS-2B cells revealed weaker changes in a limited set of inflammatory response proteins. No significant changes were observed in Jurkat cells.ConclusionsMonocytes are particularly responsive to indoor dust. We observed a classical T-helper 1-dominated immune response, which suggested that bioorganic contaminants are relevant effectors in indoor dust.