To explore whether the alteration of lncRNA expression is correlated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure and DNA damage, we examined PAHs external and internal exposure, DNA damage and lncRNAs (HOTAIR, MALAT1, TUG1 and GAS5) expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLCs) of 150 male coke oven workers and 60 non-PAHs exposure workers. We found the expression of HOTAIR, MALAT1, and TUG1 were enhanced in PBLCs of coke oven workers and positively correlated with the levels of external PAHs exposure (adjusted Ptrend < 0.001 for HOTAIR and MALAT1, adjusted Ptrend = 0.006 for TUG1). However, only HOTAIR and MALAT1 were significantly associated with the level of internal PAHs exposure (urinary 1-hydroxypyrene) with adjusted β = 0.298, P = 0.024 for HOTAIR and β = 0.090, P = 0.034 for MALAT1. In addition, the degree of DNA damage was positively associated with MALAT1 and HOTAIR expression in PBLCs of all subjects (adjusted β = 0.024, P = 0.002 for HOTAIR and β = 0.007, P = 0.003 for MALAT1). Moreover, we revealed that the global histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) modification was positively associated with the degree of genetic damage (β = 0.061, P < 0.001) and the increase of HOTAIR expression (β = 0.385, P = 0.018). Taken together, our findings suggest that altered HOTAIR and MALAT1 expression might be involved in response to PAHs-induced DNA damage.

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are a group of endocrine disrupters that have been detected in many beverages. A simple and rapid sample pretreatment procedure based on dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) was performed to simultaneously extract 15 PAEs from non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. The extracts were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). To optimize the extraction efficiency for the 15 PAEs, various parameters, including the type and volume of extractants and dispersants, effect of salts, and extraction time were studied. Under optimum conditions, the limits of detection (LODs) and the limits of quantification (LOQs) for the 15 PAEs ranged from 0.003–0.57 ng mL⁻¹ and 0.010–1.861 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. Good linearity (0.9908 ≤ r² ≤ 0.9999) and extraction recoveries (72.6–115.5%) in the range of 0.002–0.5 μg mL⁻¹ were obtained for all selected analytes. The relative standard deviation (RSD%) for the analysis of 0.02 μg mL⁻¹ of the selected PAEs was 0.16–8.59% (n = 3). An optimized DLLME-GS-MS method was applied to detect the 15 PAEs in different beverage products, and the results demonstrated that the DLLME-GC-MS method was effective for the simultaneous analysis of 15 phthalates in beverages. The results suggest that more attention should be given to possible PAE contamination in commercial beverage products.