Abstract
Immunity is continuously evolving by evolutionary mechanisms shaped by pathogenic stimuli of different kinds. Man-made nanomaterials (NMs) have been developed in the last decades and represent a novel challenge for our immune system, especially when applied to medical science. Toxicological studies of such nanoparticles (NPs) revealed that size, shape, and surface chemistry are key parameters to understand their noxious effects on cellular mechanisms. Less is known on the immune reactions to NMs since prolonged exposure data are not so detailed as the results for acute administration. The importance of immunity to biocompatible NPs is underlined by their increasing use as drug or gene delivery carriers in common pharmaceutical preparations and vaccines. In the latter case, the immunomodulatory properties of NMs allow their use also as efficient adjuvants to enhance the innate immune response. In the current manuscript, the authors discuss the main concepts in this fast-growing field by restricting our view to NMs with consolidated application in biomedicine.
Highlights
In the past decades the development of diverse nanotechnologies allowed their application in several fields including medicine, mainly for drug delivery and diagnostics [1]
Some of them already have a key role in current therapies, especially in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine delivery [8, 9], whereas others show potential applications aimed at interfering with abnormal immune reactions like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced cytokine storm [10]
In one of our studies, we showed that NPs of similar size prepared with starches extracted from two different potatoes, (i.e. Solanum tuberosum and Solanum goniocalyx), induced a different response
Summary
Cite this article: Pisani A, Bardi G. Immunology of biodegradable nanoparticles: a brief overview on a wide growing field.
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