Nanoparticle Interactions and Immune Responses in Respiratory Health

The respiratory tract represents a primary route of exposure to airborne nanoparticles, which range from engineered materials designed for therapy to incidental ultrafine pollutants. Upon inhalation, nanoparticles traverse the mucus barrier and can be taken up by epithelial cells and resident immune cells, notably alveolar macrophages and dendritic cells. Their small size and high surface area confer unique surface reactivity and the capacity to adsorb proteins, forming a ‘protein corona’ that governs cellular recognition. Depending on composition, size, surface charge and functionalisation, nanoparticles may trigger innate immune pathways—principally through pattern recognition receptors—leading to cytokine release, oxidative stress and inflammation. In allergic or asthmatic individuals, certain nanoparticles can act as adjuvants, skewing adaptive responses towards T helper type 2 or type 17 phenotypes and exacerbating airway hyperresponsiveness. Conversely, rationally designed nanoparticles offer promise as inhalable diagnostics, vaccine carriers or targeted therapeutics, provided their immunotoxicity is minimised by precise control of surface chemistry and dosing.

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Nanoparticle Interactions and Immune Responses in Respiratory Health publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in nanoparticle interactions and immune responses in respiratory health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Nanoparticles: Particles with at least one dimension below 100 nm, exhibiting unique surface-to-volume ratios and quantum effects.

Innate immunity: The body’s first line of defence, relying on germline-encoded receptors to detect conserved molecular patterns.

Adaptive immunity: A later, antigen-specific response driven by lymphocytes, leading to immunological memory.

Adjuvant: A substance that enhances the magnitude or durability of an adaptive immune response to an antigen.

Zeta potential: The electrostatic potential at the slipping plane of a particle in suspension, used to infer colloidal stability and surface charge.

Protein corona: A dynamic layer of biomolecules that adsorbs onto nanoparticle surfaces upon contact with biological fluids, dictating cellular interactions.

References

1. Lessons from the history of inorganic nanoparticles for inhalable diagnostics and therapeutics. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science (2023).
2. Density of surface charge is a more predictive factor of the toxicity of cationic carbon nanoparticles than zeta potential. Journal of Nanobiotechnology (2021).
3. The crystal structure of titanium dioxide nanoparticles influences immune activity in vitro and in vivo. Particle and Fibre Toxicology (2018).