Assessing the interplay between stress, health, behavior, and inflammatory gene expression response to wildfire smoke exposures using community engaged and remote sampling approaches

项目摘要/摘要 随着近年来野火的发生和强度的增加，了解森林对人类的影响 暴露于野火烟雾(WFS)已成为最重要的问题。可以考察WFS对社区的影响 通过调查接触WFS的近端有害生物效应、健康和福祉以及感知 基于证据的减少暴露干预措施在社区规模的影响。在2021年初 WFS季节，我们开始了初步研究，以评估WFS在世界各地的生物和社会影响 华盛顿州梅托谷；太平洋西北部的一个地区，WFS暴露负担历史上很高，到 2021年7月初，经历了几个星期的WFS暴露，“几乎超出了图表的危险”[2]。 我们分发了一种新的试剂盒，homeRNA，用于自我收集和稳定全血RNA，从而允许 美国西部62名参与者对WFS炎症基因反应的评估，其中包括18名参与者 在华盛顿州的梅托山谷，到目前为止收集了400多个稳定的血液样本：其中一部分将是 用由大约800个炎症基因组成的纳米串小组进行分析。与此同时，利用这笔捐款和 在华盛顿州梅托山谷向社区成员分发2,000台HEPA便携式空气净化器(PAC) 登记并调查了近1,000名参与者，以评估他们在WFS期间的自我感觉健康和幸福感 事件，以及感受到的HEPA PAC的保护效果。这一前所未有的机会使我们能够 同时探讨WFS暴露的炎性基因反应效应，以及对 WFS暴露和缓解战略对健康和福祉的影响。在这里，我们试图评估 WFS在炎性基因应答中的生物学效应 在暴露前、暴露期间和暴露后使用我们的Home RNA血样试剂盒采集血液。我们还打算评估 感知的WFS对健康、福祉和行为变化的影响 职业、家庭群体以及HEPA PAC的感知影响，这是一项循证的 在受WFS影响的社区中越来越多地使用和推荐减少暴露干预措施。一起， 这些结果将为后续R01应用程序的开发提供信息，该应用程序将结合Home RNA和 调查研究，以提高对WFS暴露和循证影响的机械性理解 减少暴露干预(如HEPA PAC)对炎性基因表达、行为和知觉的影响 健康和幸福。我们与梅托山谷社区的长期、真诚的合作伙伴关系通过 多年的合作使这项研究成为可能，并独特地允许实时科学交流和 研究翻译。由于野火预计将在频率和强度上增加，加强我们的科学 关于健康影响及其基本机制以及干预措施的影响的知识是 迫在眉睫也是最重要的。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT As wildfire occurrence and intensity has increased in recent years, understanding the human impact of wildfire smoke (WFS) exposure has become paramount. The impact of WFS on a community can be examined by investigating the proximal deleterious biological effects of WFS exposure, health and well-being and perceived impact of evidence-based exposure reduction interventions at community scale. At the beginning of the 2021 WFS season, we commenced preliminary research to gauge the biological and social impact of WFS in the Methow Valley, WA; a region in the Pacific Northwest with historically high WFS exposure burden, where by early July 2021, had experienced several weeks of WFS exposure that was “nearly off the chart hazardous”[2]. We distributed a novel kit, homeRNA, for self-collection and stabilization of whole blood RNA that allows for the assessment of inflammatory gene response to WFS to 62 participants across the American West, including 18 in the Methow Valley, WA, collecting over 400 stabilized blood samples to date: a subset of which will be analyzed with a NanoString panel of ~800 inflammatory genes. Concomitantly, leveraging the donation and distribution of 2,000 HEPA portable air cleaners (PACs) to community members across Methow Valley, WA, we enrolled and surveyed nearly 1,000 participants to assess their perceived health and well-being during WFS events, and the perceived protective effect of the HEPA PACs. This unprecedented opportunity allows us to simultaneously probe into the inflammatory gene response effects of WFS exposure, and perceptions regarding the health and well-being impacts of WFS exposure and mitigation strategies. Here we seek to assess the biological effect of WFS in the inflammatory gene response by identifying key inflammatory response genes in blood before, during, and after exposure using our homeRNA blood sampling kits. We also aim to assess perceived WFS impacts on health, well-being, and behavior change across socio-economic, demographic, occupational, and household groups, as well as the perceived impacts of HEPA PACs, an evidence-based exposure reduction intervention increasingly used and recommended in WFS-affected communities. Together, these results will inform the development of a subsequent R01 application that will combine homeRNA and survey research to improve mechanistic understanding of the effects of WFS exposure and evidence-based exposure reduction interventions (like HEPA PACs) on inflammatory gene expression, behavior and perceived health and well-being. Our long-standing, genuine partnership with the Methow Valley community honed through years of collaboration enables this research, and uniquely allows for real-time science communication and research translation. As wildfires are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude, enhancing our scientific knowledge about health impacts and their underlying mechanisms, as well the impact of interventions, is of immediate and paramount importance.