Long-Term Ambient Benzene Exposure and Brain Disorders Among Urban Adults: Effect Modification by Genetic Susceptibility and Potential Mediation by Plasma Proteins.
Overview
- Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
- Peking University Sixth Hospital/Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Epidemiology of Major Diseases (Peking University), Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
Abstract
Benzene is a common urban air pollutant with potential neurotoxicity, yet the health effects of long‐term, low‐level ambient exposure and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly characterized. Here, we used data from 288,180 UK Biobank (UKB) participants to investigate associations between benzene exposure and brain disorders as well as related genetic susceptibility and potential protein‐mediated mechanisms. We found that benzene exposure was significantly associated with seven brain disorders, including anxiety disorders, dementia, epilepsy, major depressive disorder, migraine, sleep disorders, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Greater genetic susceptibility to benzene exposure was most apparent for epilepsy, migraine, sleep disorder, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Pathway‐level mediation analyses identified 40 pathways that may mediate the associations between benzene exposure and brain disorders, converging on pathways regulating cell survival and apoptosis, immune‐inflammatory signaling, cellular stress responses, and cell–cell or cell–matrix interactions, highlighting coordinated disruptions in cellular homeostasis and immune regulation. Overall, our findings suggest that even low‐level ambient benzene exposure may be linked to adverse brain health through multiple potential biological pathways, highlighting the need for further studies in diverse exposure settings, including rural populations with potentially higher benzene exposure.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
Datasets cited
- ukbiobank.ac.uk/
register-apply , at UK Biobank; found in “Data Availability Statement”
Data Availability Statement
The data used in the present study are available from UKB with restrictions applied. Data were used under license and are therefore not publicly available. Access can be obtained by applying to the UK Biobank through the standard protocol (https://
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 11 authors, 12 MeSH terms, 6 funders, 54 references.
Cite
This paper
Guo, J., Zhong, X., Koutrakis, P., Vieira, C. L. Z., Si, F., Wang, Y., Lian, X., Fan, Y., Wang, Z., Huang, S., & Li, J. (2026). Long-Term Ambient Benzene Exposure and Brain Disorders Among Urban Adults: Effect Modification by Genetic Susceptibility and Potential Mediation by Plasma Proteins. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 13(47), e75874. https://
BibTeX
@article{guo2026long,
author = {Guo, Jianhui and Zhong, Xia and Koutrakis, Petros and Vieira, Carolina L Zilli and Si, Feifei and Wang, Yaqi and Lian, Xinyao and Fan, Yi and Wang, Zhaokun and Huang, Shaodan and Li, Jing},
title = {{Long-Term Ambient Benzene Exposure and Brain Disorders Among Urban Adults: Effect Modification by Genetic Susceptibility and Potential Mediation by Plasma Proteins}},
journal = {Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)},
year = {2026},
month = may,
volume = {13},
number = {47},
pages = {e75874},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {2198-3844},
doi = {10.1002/
url = {https://
pmid = {42213015},
pmcid = {PMC13336048}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Guo, Jianhui
AU - Zhong, Xia
AU - Koutrakis, Petros
AU - Vieira, Carolina L Zilli
AU - Si, Feifei
AU - Wang, Yaqi
AU - Lian, Xinyao
AU - Fan, Yi
AU - Wang, Zhaokun
AU - Huang, Shaodan
AU - Li, Jing
TI - Long-Term Ambient Benzene Exposure and Brain Disorders Among Urban Adults: Effect Modification by Genetic Susceptibility and Potential Mediation by Plasma Proteins
T2 - Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
J2 - Adv Sci (Weinh)
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 13
IS - 47
SP - e75874
SN - 2198-3844
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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