Induction of protein citrullination and auto-antibodies production in murine exposed to nickel nanomaterials.

Citrullination, or the post-translational deimination of polypeptide-bound arginine, is involved in several pathological processes in the body, including autoimmunity and tumorigenesis. Recent studies have shown that nanomaterials can trigger protein citrullination, which might constitute a common pathogenic link to disease development. Here we demonstrated auto-antibody production in serum of nanomaterials-treated mice.

Long-Fiber Carbon Nanotubes Replicate Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma with Disruption of the Tumor Suppressor Gene Cdkn2a (Ink4a/Arf).

Mesothelioma is a fatal tumor of the pleura and is strongly associated with asbestos exposure. The molecular mechanisms underlying the long latency period of mesothelioma and driving carcinogenesis are unknown. Moreover, late diagnosis means that mesothelioma research is commonly focused on end-stage disease.

Role of B Cell-Activating Factor in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Rationale: B cell-activating factor (BAFF) plays a major role in activation of B cells and in adaptive humoral immune responses. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lymphoid follicles have been associated with disease severity, and overexpression of BAFF has been demonstrated within lymphoid follicles of patients with severe COPD.

Objectives: To investigate expression and localization of BAFF in the lungs of patients with COPD and to study the role of BAFF in COPD by antagonizing BAFF in a mouse model of chronic cigarette smoke (CS) exposure.

Pulmonary toxicity of carbon nanotubes and asbestos - similarities and differences.

Carbon nanotubes are a valuable industrial product but there is potential for human pulmonary exposure during production and their fibrous shape raises the possibility that they may have effects like asbestos, which caused a worldwide pandemic of disease in the20th century that continues into present. CNT may exist as fibres or as more compact particles and the asbestos-type hazard only pertains to the fibrous forms of CNT. Exposure to asbestos causes asbestosis, bronchogenic carcinoma, mesothelioma, pleural fibrosis and pleural plaques indicating that both the lungs and the pleura are targets.

Use of silver nanowires to determine thresholds for fibre length-dependent pulmonary inflammation and inhibition of macrophage migration in vitro.

Background: The objective of this study was to examine the threshold fibre length for the onset of pulmonary inflammation after aspiration exposure in mice to four different lengths of silver nanowires (AgNW). We further examined the effect of fibre length on macrophage locomotion in an in vitro wound healing assay. We hypothesised that exposure to longer fibres causes both increased inflammation and restricted mobility leading to impaired clearance of long fibres from the lower respiratory tract to the mucociliary escalator in vivo.

The biologically effective dose in inhalation nanotoxicology.

In all branches of toxicology, the biologically effective dose (BED) is the fraction of the total dose of a toxin that actually drives any toxic effect. Knowledge of the BED has a number of applications including in building structure-activity relationships, the selection of metrics, the design of safe particles, and the determination of when a nanoparticle (NP) can be considered to be "new" for regulatory purposes. In particle toxicology, we define the BED as "the entity within any dose of particles in tissue that drives a critical pathophysiogically relevant form of toxicity (e.

Use of back-scatter electron signals to visualise cell/nanowires interactions in vitro and in vivo; frustrated phagocytosis of long fibres in macrophages and compartmentalisation in mesothelial cells in vivo.

Background: Frustrated phagocytosis has been stated as an important factor in the initiation of an inflammatory response after fibre exposure. The length of fibrous structures has been linked to the potential of fibres to induce adverse health effects for at least 40 years. However, we only recently reported for the first time the threshold length for fibre-induced inflammation in the pleural space and we implicated frustrated phagocytosis in the pro-inflammatory effects of long fibres.

The threshold length for fiber-induced acute pleural inflammation: shedding light on the early events in asbestos-induced mesothelioma.

Suspicion has been raised that high aspect ratio nanoparticles or nanofibers might possess asbestos-like pathogenicity. The pleural space is a specific target for disease in individuals exposed to asbestos and by implication of nanofibers. Pleural effects of fibers depends on fiber length, but the key threshold length beyond which adverse effects occur has never been identified till now because all asbestos and vitreous fiber samples are heterogeneously distributed in their length.

The mechanism of pleural inflammation by long carbon nanotubes: interaction of long fibres with macrophages stimulates them to amplify pro-inflammatory responses in mesothelial cells.

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are high aspect ratio nanoparticles with diameters in the nanometre range but lengths extending up to hundreds of microns. The structural similarities between CNT and asbestos have raised concern that they may pose a similar inhalation hazard. Recently CNT have been shown to elicit a length-dependent, asbestos-like inflammatory response in the pleural cavity of mice, where long fibres caused inflammation but short fibres did not.

Graphene-based nanoplatelets: a new risk to the respiratory system as a consequence of their unusual aerodynamic properties.

Graphene is a new nanomaterial with unusual and useful physical and chemical properties. However, in the form of nanoplatelets this new, emerging material could pose unusual risks to the respiratory system after inhalation exposure. The graphene-based nanoplatelets used in this study are commercially available and consist of several sheets of graphene (few-layer graphene).

Identifying the pulmonary hazard of high aspect ratio nanoparticles to enable their safety-by-design.

High aspect ratio, or fiber-shaped, nanoparticles (HARNs) represent a growth area in nanotechnology as their useful properties become more apparent. Carbon nanotubes, the best known and studied of the HARNs are handled on an increasingly large scale, with subsequent potential for human inhalation exposure. Their resemblance to asbestos fibers precipitated fears that they might show the same type of pathology as that caused by asbestos and there is emerging evidence to support this possibility.

Differential expression of microRNA 181b and microRNA 21 in hyperplastic polyps and sessile serrated adenomas of the colon.

This study was designed to analyse the potential diagnostic value of miR-181b and miR-21 for discriminating hyperplastic polyps (HP) from sessile serrated adenomas (SSA) without cytologic dysplasia. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction expression levels of miR-181b and miR-21 in 18 HPs, 19 SSAs without cytologic dysplasia and 20 normal colonic mucosal specimens were examined. In addition, 20 colorectal cancers specimen were analysed for miR-181b expression.