An Assessment on Ethanol-Blended Gasoline/Diesel Fuels on Cancer Risk and Mortality

Abstract

Although cancer is traditionally considered a genetic disease, the epigenetic abnormalities, including DNA hypermethylation, histone deacetylation, and/or microRNA dysregulation, have been demonstrated as a hallmark of cancer. Compared with gene mutations, aberrant epigenetic changes occur more frequently, and cellular epigenome is more susceptible to change by environmental factors. Excess cancer risks are positively associated with exposure to occupational and environmental chemical carcinogens, including those from gasoline combustion exhausted in vehicles. Of note, previous studies proposed particulate matter index (PMI) as a measure for gasoline sooting tendency, and showed that, compared with the other molecules in gasoline, 1,2,4–Trimethylbenzene, 2–methylnaphthalene and toluene significantly contribute to PMI of the gasoline blends. Mechanistically, both epigenome and genome are important in carcinogenicity, and the genotoxicity of chemical agents has been thoroughly studied. However, less effort has been put into studying the epigenotoxicity. Moreover, as the blending of ethanol into gasoline substitutes for carcinogens, like benzene, toluene, xylene, butadiene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, etc., a reduction of secondary aromatics has been achieved in the atmosphere. This may lead to diminished cancer initiation and progression through altered cellular epigenetic landscape. The present review summarizes the most important findings in the literature on the association between exposures to carcinogens from gasoline combustion, cancer epigenetics and the potential epigenetic impacts of biofuels.

Transition Paths towards a Sustainable Transportation System: A Literature Review

“…It is considered one of the best ways of reducing tailpipe emissions [69]. It is more volatile than gasoline and therefore evaporates more easily.…”

Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) can directly suppress basic ovarian cell functions in two farm animal species and protect ovarian cells from the proliferation‐stimulating influence of xylene

“…Chia mitigated the stimulatory effect of xylene on proliferation but not on other parameters in both bovine and porcine ovarian cells. It could be proposed that chia could be potentially useful as a protector against the stimulatory action of xylene on ovarian cell proliferation that could result in cancer development (Mueller et al, 2021;Niaz et al, 2015). The potential of chia as a natural protector against the harmful action of xylene and anticancer drugs could be promising from a medicinal viewpoint.…”

“…The increased proliferation of xylene-treated cells could be due to increased IGF-I release. These events could explain the ability of xylene to induce malignant transformation (Mueller et al, 2021;Niaz et al, 2015), which can be due to hypertrophied IGF-I-induced cell proliferation (Chen et al, 2020). Furthermore, the ability of xylene to jeopardize fertility and gravidity (Hood & Ottley, 1985;Niaz et al, 2015;Ungváry et al, 1981) can be explained by the inhibited release of progesterone, which is a key hormone that maintains the ovarian cycle and gravidity (Sirotkin, 2014).…”

Mid-infrared IPDA lidar for probing atmospheric toluene concentration

“…Among them, toluene usually accounts for the highest proportion [8]. Relevant studies have shown that toluene has a significant contribution to the risk of carcinogenesis [9]. In the atmosphere, the concentration of toluene is usually low, generally on the order of 10ppb, but it can be as high as 10ppm in heavily polluted areas [10].…”