Current understanding of interactions between nanoparticles and the immune system

Abstract

The delivery of drugs, antigens, and imaging agents benefits from using nanotechnology-based carriers. The successful translation of nanoformulations to the clinic involves thorough assessment of their safety profiles, which, among other endpoints, includes evaluation of immunotoxicity. The past decade of research focusing on nanoparticle interaction with the immune system has been fruitful in terms of understanding the basics of nanoparticle immunocompatibility, developing a bioanalytical infrastructure to screen for nanoparticle-mediated immune reactions, beginning to uncover the mechanisms of nanoparticle immunotoxicity, and utilizing current knowledge about the structure–activity relationship between nanoparticles’ physicochemical properties and their effects on the immune system to guide safe drug delivery. In the present review, we focus on the most prominent pieces of the nanoparticle–immune system puzzle and discuss the achievements, disappointments, and lessons learned over the past 15 years of research on the immunotoxicity of engineered nanomaterials.

Analytical Methods to Characterize and Purify Polymeric Nanoparticles

“…The composition of colloidal nanomaterials is a key point, since it affects not only its transport, delivery, and biodistribution in vivo, but, most importantly, it can contribute to toxicity-related problems [4][5][6]9]. For this reason, to ensure a safe formulation, free of contaminants, a purification step is strongly recommended, followed by a physicochemical characterization, before starting preclinical and clinical analysis.…”

“…Although the number of benchtop research studies developing novel nanosystems intended for biomedical applications is enormous, their use as clinically effective products is still limited. One of the main concerns of pharmaceutical industries for the production of novel formulations based on polymeric nanoparticles is the complexity of a deep characterization, which would enable their safe production and use in humans [4]. Therefore, a wide characterization of nanomedicines is a must before their testing in preclinical and clinical stages.…”

Long Exposure to CdS-Dextrin Nanoparticles Induces an Immunomodulatory and Anti-Inflammatory Effect in Rats

“…Nanomaterials by themselves are foreign substances and should be able to trigger an immune response; that said, whether they go unnoticed or interact directly is still debatable. The extant literature shows nanomaterials can exert both favorable and harmful effects on the organism as a result of their interaction with the immune system, and this will basically depend on the properties and coating of nanoparticles [24][25][26][27].…”

Efecto inmunomodulador de nanopartículas usadas en nanomedicina

“…Las NP se clasifican según su composición química en los siguientes dos grupos: A. Nanopartículas inorgánicas como las de sílice, los Quatum Dots, las metálicas, los nanotubos de carbono, las de oro y los fulerenos. B. Nanopartículas orgánicas como los liposomas, las micelas, los dendrímeros, los conjugados de proteínas y las poliméricas es ventajosa para su uso; sin embargo, esas mismas características y propiedades hacen que, cuando una NP se introduce en el organismo, el sistema inmunitario la reconozca como un agente extraño y se produzca una respuesta inmune (19,20). Además, factores como la dosis y la vía de administración, el mecanismo de acción y el sitio de la actividad -que son propiedades extrínsecas al material-también son críticos en el establecimiento de la respuesta inmune (12,21).…”