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Immune Toxicity of and Allergic Responses to Nanomaterials

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Allergy and Immunotoxicology in Occupational Health - The Next Step

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Abstract

Over the past decade, the remarkable development of nanomaterials and nanotechnology has led to their use in many applications. But as the uses of nanomaterials have increased, so have concerns regarding their potential adverse effects (that is, nanotoxicity) in humans and the environment. Because the body’s immune systems are responsible for dealing with foreign substances, we likely should expect at least some interaction of nanomaterials with our immune systems with daily use of nanomaterials, and we must understand those interactions in order to use nanomaterials safely or to develop safer nanomaterials. In this review, we summarize recent advances in immunotoxicology studies of nanomaterials, especially (1) macrophage recognition of nanomaterials with particular emphasis on the effect of particle size, and (2) in vivo responses after skin exposure to nanomaterials, including the onset or aggravation of allergy. In addition, we discuss challenges to further understanding the immune system–nanomaterial interaction, with the goal of increasing the safety of these compounds.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BIKEN Innovative Vaccine Research Alliance Laboratories, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuo Yoshioka

  2. BIKEN Center for Innovative Vaccine Research and Development, The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuo Yoshioka

  3. Laboratory of Nano-Design for Innovative Drug Development, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuo Yoshioka

  4. The Center for Advanced Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuo Yoshioka & Yasuo Tsutsumi

  5. Departments of Dermatology and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA

    Toshiro Hirai

  6. Laboratory of Toxicology and Safety Science, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yasuo Tsutsumi

Authors
  1. Yasuo Yoshioka
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  2. Toshiro Hirai
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  3. Yasuo Tsutsumi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasuo Yoshioka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

    Takemi Otsuki

  2. Department of Medicine and Aging Science (DMSI), University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Mario Di Gioacchino

  3. Department of Medicine and Aging Science (DMSI), University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Claudia Petrarca

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Yoshioka, Y., Hirai, T., Tsutsumi, Y. (2020). Immune Toxicity of and Allergic Responses to Nanomaterials. In: Otsuki, T., Di Gioacchino, M., Petrarca, C. (eds) Allergy and Immunotoxicology in Occupational Health - The Next Step. Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4735-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4735-5_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4734-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4735-5

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