The Role of MicroRNAs in Acrylamide Toxicity

doi:10.19586/j.2095-2341.2025.0101

Current Biotechnology ›› 2026, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (1): 38-43.DOI: 10.19586/j.2095-2341.2025.0101

• Reviews • Previous Articles Next Articles

The Role of MicroRNAs in Acrylamide Toxicity

Zekai YANG¹(), Shihao MA¹(), Ke DOU¹(), Yinghao JIANG¹, Yilin HAO¹, Zhizheng ZHOU¹, Jiahang LYU¹, Xiuwen HUA¹, Zihao FAN²(), Hongshu SUI¹()

^1.Department of Histology and Embryology，School of Clinical and Basic Medicine，Shandong First Medical University，Jinan 250117，China
^2.College of Radiology，Shandong First Medical University，Shandong Taian 271016，China

Received:2025-08-06 Accepted:2025-10-22 Online:2026-01-25 Published:2026-02-12
Contact: Zihao FAN,Hongshu SUI

Abstract

Abstract:

Acrylamide （AA） as a white photosensitive crystal， was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a possible human carcinogen of grade 2A in 1994. AA has been proved to have definite mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. MicroRNAs （miRNAs）， a class of single-stranded non-coding RNAs with a length of 20~25 nucleotides， are widely involved in the regulation of human gene expression， which are closely related to the toxicity mechanism induced by AA and the screening and identification of biomarkers. This review aimed to clarify the in vivo process of AA， explored the mechanism of miRNAs in AA-induced cytotoxicity， and provide reference basis for intervention strategies of AA-induced related diseases.

Key words: acrylamide, microRNAs, cytotoxicity, carcinogenicity

摘要：

丙烯酰胺（acrylamide，AA）是一种白色光敏性晶体，1994年被国际癌症研究机构归为2A级人类可能致癌物。AA已被证实具有明确的致突变性和致癌性。微小RNA（microRNAs，miRNAs）是一类长度为20~25 nt的单链非编码RNA，广泛参与人类基因表达调控，与AA诱导的毒性机制及其生物标志物的筛选鉴定密切相关。综述旨在明确AA的体内过程，探讨miRNAs在AA诱导的细胞毒性中的作用机制，为研究AA毒性诱发的相关疾病的干预策略提供参考依据。

关键词: 丙烯酰胺, miRNA, 细胞毒性, 致癌性

CLC Number:

Zekai YANG, Shihao MA, Ke DOU, Yinghao JIANG, Yilin HAO, Zhizheng ZHOU, Jiahang LYU, Xiuwen HUA, Zihao FAN, Hongshu SUI. The Role of MicroRNAs in Acrylamide Toxicity[J]. Current Biotechnology, 2026, 16(1): 38-43.

杨泽凯, 马士豪, 窦可, 江映昊, 郝依琳, 周执政, 吕佳杭, 花修文, 范子豪, 隋宏书. MicroRNAs在丙烯酰胺毒性中的作用[J]. 生物技术进展, 2026, 16(1): 38-43.

References 49

[1]	TAREKE E, RYDBERG P, KARLSSON P, et al.. Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs[J]. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2002, 50(17): 4998-5006.
[2]	CHAROENPRASERT S, MITCHELL A. Influence of California-style black ripe olive processing on the formation of acrylamide[J]. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2014, 62(34): 8716-8721.
[3]	ESPOSITO F, FASANO E, DE VIVO A, et al.. Processing effects on acrylamide content in roasted coffee production[J/OL]. Food Chem., 2020, 319: 126550[2025-12-30]. .
[4]	KOSZUCKA A, NOWAK A, NOWAK I, et al.. Acrylamide in human diet, its metabolism, toxicity, inactivation and the associated European Union legal regulations in food industry[J]. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., 2020, 60(10): 1677-1692.
[5]	KUMAR J, DAS S, TEOH S L. Dietary acrylamide and the risks of developing cancer: facts to ponder[J/OL]. Nutrition, 2018, 5: 14[2025-12-30]. .
[6]	FENNELL T R, FRIEDMAN M A. Comparison of acrylamide metabolism in humans and rodents[C]//Chemistry and safety of acrylamide in food. Boston, MA: Springer, 2005: 109-116.
[7]	MILLER M J, CARTER D E, SIPES I G. Pharmacokinetics of acrylamide in fisher-334 rats[J]. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., 1982, 63(1): 36-44.
[8]	SUMNER S C, FENNELL T R, MOORE T A, et al.. Role of cytochrome P450 2E1 in the metabolism of acrylamide and acrylonitrile in mice[J]. Chem. Res. Toxicol., 1999, 12(11): 1110-1116.
[9]	MORI Y, KOBAYASHI H, FUJITA Y, et al.. Mechanism of reactive oxygen species generation and oxidative DNA damage induced by acrylohydroxamic acid, a putative metabolite of acrylamide[J/OL]. Mutat. Res. Genet. Toxicol. Environ. Mutagen., 2022, 873: 503420[2025-12-30]. .
[10]	YAN F, WANG L, ZHAO L, et al.. Acrylamide in food: occurrence, metabolism, molecular toxicity mechanism and detoxification by phytochemicals[J/OL]. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2023, 175: 113696[2025-12-30]. .
[11]	LI M, SUN J, ZOU F, et al.. Glycidamide inhibits progesterone production through reactive oxygen species-induced apoptosis in R2C rat Leydig cells[J]. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2017, 108: 563-570.
[12]	BOETTCHER M I, SCHETTGEN T, KÜTTING B, et al.. Mercapturic acids of acrylamide and glycidamide as biomarkers of the internal exposure to acrylamide in the general population[J]. Mutat. Res. Toxicol. Environ. Mutagen., 2005, 580(1-2): 167-176.
[13]	VESPER H W, SLIMANI N, HALLMANS G, et al.. Cross-sectional study on acrylamide hemoglobin adducts in subpopulations from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study[J]. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2008, 56(15): 6046-6053.
[14]	YILMAZ B O, YILDIZBAYRAK N, AYDIN Y, et al.. Evidence of acrylamide- and glycidamide-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in Leydig and Sertoli cells[J]. Hum. Exp. Toxicol., 2017, 36(12): 1225-1235.
[15]	WANG J, HAN Y, WANG M, et al.. The inhibitory effect of Yam polysaccharides on acrylamide-induced programmed cell death in RAW264.7 cells[J]. Food Sci. Nutr., 2023, 11(1): 443-457.
[16]	NOWAK A, ZAKŁOS-SZYDA M, ŻYŻELEWICZ D, et al.. Acrylamide decreases cell viability, and provides oxidative stress, DNA damage, and apoptosis in human colon adenocarcinoma cell line caco-2[J/OL]. Molecules, 2020, 25(2): E368[2025-12-30]. .
[17]	ATTOFF K, KERTIKA D, LUNDQVIST J, et al.. Acrylamide affects proliferation and differentiation of the neural progenitor cell line C17.2 and the neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y[J]. Toxicol. Vitro, 2016, 35: 100-111.
[19]	HA M, KIM V N. Regulation of microRNA biogenesis[J]. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol., 2014, 15(8): 509-524.
[20]	DE RIE D, ABUGESSAISA I, ALAM T, et al.. An integrated expression atlas of miRNAs and their promoters in human and mouse[J]. Nat. Biotechnol., 2017, 35(9): 872-878.
[21]	KHVOROVA A, REYNOLDS A, JAYASENA S D. Functional siRNAs and miRNAs exhibit strand bias[J]. Cell, 2003, 115(2): 209-216.
[22]	RUBY J G, JAN C H, BARTEL D P. Intronic microRNA precursors that bypass Drosha processing[J]. Nature, 2007, 448(7149): 83-86.
[23]	XIE M, LI M, VILBORG A, et al.. Mammalian 5'-capped microRNA precursors that generate a single microRNA[J]. Cell, 2013, 155(7): 1568-1580.
[24]	LU J, GETZ G, MISKA E A, et al.. microRNA expression profiles classify human cancers[J]. Nature, 2005, 435(7043): 834-838.
[25]	XU Y, WANG P, XU C, et al.. Acrylamide induces HepG2 cell proliferation through upregulation of miR-21 expression[J]. J. Biomed. Res., 2019, 33(3): 181-191.
[26]	YANG C, NAN B, YE H, et al.. miR-193b-5p protects BRL-3A cells from acrylamide-induced cell cycle arrest by targeting FOXO3[J/OL]. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2021, 150: 112059[2025-12-30]. .
[27]	ZHANG C, ZHANG Z, CHANG Z, et al.. miR-193b-5p regulates chondrocytes metabolism by directly targeting histone deacetylase 7 in interleukin-1β-induced osteoarthritis[J]. J. Cell Biochem., 2019, 120(8): 12775-12784.
[28]	SHIN C H, LEE H, KIM H R, et al.. Regulation of PLK1 through competition between hnRNPK, miR-149-3p and miR-193b-5p[J]. Cell Death Differ, 2017, 24(11): 1861-1871.
[29]	CHOI K H, SHIN C H, LEE W J, et al.. Dual-strand tumor suppressor miR-193b-3p and 5p inhibit malignant phenotypes of lung cancer by suppressing their common targets[J/OL]. Biosci. Rep., 2019, 39(7): BSR20190634[2025-12-30]. .
[30]	GO H, JANG J Y, KIM P J, et al.. microRNA-21 plays an oncogenic role by targeting FOXO1 and activating the PI3K/AKT pathway in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma[J]. Oncotarget, 2015, 6(17): 15035-15049.
[31]	LU X, SUN C, ZHENG D, et al.. The miR-21 attenuates hepatocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation injury via inhibiting PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway[J]. Chin. J. Cell. Mole. Immunol., 2017, 33(4): 497-502.
[32]	BAI Y N, YU Z Y, LUO L X, et al.. microRNA-21 accelerates hepatocyte proliferation in vitro via PI3K/Akt signaling by targeting PTEN[J]. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2014, 443(3): 802-807.
[33]	ROMAY M C, CHE N, BECKER S N, et al.. Regulation of NF-κB signaling by oxidized glycerophospholipid and IL-1β induced miRs-21-3p and 27a-5p in human aortic endothelial cells[J]. J. Lipid Res., 2015, 56(1): 38-50.
[34]	ZHAO M, WANG F S, HU X, et al.. Acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity in primary astrocytes and microglia: roles of the Nrf2-ARE and NF-κB pathways[J]. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2017, 106: 25-35.
[35]	DONG L, ZHANG L, YANG L, et al.. Acrylamide alters the miRNA profiles and miR-27a-5p plays the key role in multiple tissues of rats[J]. Food Front., 2020, 1(4): 493-501.
[36]	ADANI G, FILIPPINI T, WISE L A, et al.. Dietary intake of acrylamide and risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis[J]. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark. Prev., 2020, 29(6): 1095-1106.
[37]	PALUS K, BULC M, CAŁKA J. Effect of acrylamide supplementation on the CART-, VAChT-, and nNOS-immunoreactive nervous structures in the porcine stomach[J/OL]. Animals, 2020, 10(4): E555[2025-12-30]. .
[38]	LIANG J, TANG J, SHI H, et al.. miR-27a-3p targeting RXRα promotes colorectal cancer progression by activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway[J]. Oncotarget, 2017, 8(47): 82991-83008.
[39]	LIU Q, YANG J, GONG Y, et al.. microRNA profiling identifies biomarkers in head kidneys of common carp exposed to cadmium[J/OL]. Chemosphere, 2020, 247: 125901[2025-12-30]. .
[40]	ZHANG L, DONG L, YANG L, et al.. miR-27a-5p regulates acrylamide-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and intrinsic apoptosis via targeting Btf3 in rats[J/OL]. Food Chem., 2022, 368: 130816[2025-12-30]. .
[41]	ZENG K W, WANG J K, WANG L C, et al.. Small molecule induces mitochondrial fusion for neuroprotection via targeting CK2 without affecting its conventional kinase activity[J/OL]. Signal Transduct Target Ther., 2021, 6(1): 71[2025-12-30]. .
[42]	WANG C J, FRÅNBERGH-KARLSON H, WANG D W, et al.. Clinicopathological significance of BTF3 expression in colorectal cancer[J]. Tumor Biol., 2013, 34(4): 2141-2146.
[43]	JEON Y J, BANG W, CHO J H, et al.. Kahweol induces apoptosis by suppressing BTF3 expression through the ERK signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer cells[J]. Int. J. Oncol., 2016, 49(6): 2294-2302.
[44]	DING J, WANG X, ZHANG Y, et al.. Inhibition of BTF3 sensitizes luminal breast cancer cells to PI3Kα inhibition through the transcriptional regulation of ERα[J]. Cancer Lett., 2019, 440-441: 54-63.
[45]	RAHMAN M R, ISLAM T, ZAMAN T, et al.. Identification of molecular signatures and pathways to identify novel therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease: insights from a systems biomedicine perspective[J]. Genomics, 2020, 112(2): 1290-1299.
[46]	WATSON C N, BELLI A, DI PIETRO V. Small non-coding RNAs: new class of biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative disease[J/OL]. Front. Genet., 2019, 10: 364[2025-12-30]. .
[47]	TRIGG N A, SKERRETT-BYRNE D A, XAVIER M J, et al.. Acrylamide modulates the mouse epididymal proteome to drive alterations in the sperm small non-coding RNA profile and dysregulate embryo development[J/OL]. Cell Rep., 2021, 37(1): 109787[2025-12-30]. .
[48]	NAGASHIMA D, ZHANG L, KITAMURA Y, et al.. Proteomic analysis of hippocampal proteins in acrylamide-exposed Wistar rats[J]. Arch. Toxicol., 2019, 93(7): 1993-2006.
[49]	ZHAO M, DONG L, ZHU C, et al.. Proteomic profiling of primary astrocytes and co-cultured astrocytes/microglia exposed to acrylamide[J]. NeuroToxicol., 2019, 75: 78-88.

The Role of MicroRNAs in Acrylamide Toxicity

RichHTML

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References 49

Related Articles 2

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments

[1]	Yimiao ZHANG, Yuqin BIAN, Xinbo LIU, Jiahe PANG, Tongxuan SUN, Qiazheng DU, Wenhao XU, Tianze YIN, Hongshu SUI. Research Progress on the Cytotoxicity and Immune Effects of Carbon-based Nanomaterials [J]. Current Biotechnology, 2025, 15(4): 615-621.
[2]	Jiashuo LYU, Yanqi REN, Xiangmin XU, Yiwen ZHANG, Xiaohui LIU, Chengzhen LIU. Research Progress on Microplastics and Their Biodegradation [J]. Current Biotechnology, 2024, 14(5): 768-775.