The Finnish Hub for Development and Validation of Integrated Approaches (FHAIVE) at Tampere University has discovered a novel, multispecies-specific response mechanism to nanoparticle exposure.
Doctoral student Giusy del Giudice has discovered an ancestral epigenetic defense mechanism that explains how different species, from humans to simpler creatures, adapt over time to this kind of exposure by analyzing a large collection of datasets regarding the molecular response to nanomaterials.
The paper “An Ancestral Molecular Response to Nanomaterial Particulates,” which was recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, presents the findings of the research that was led by Professor Dario Greco of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technologies.
“For the first time, we have demonstrated that there is a specific response to nanoparticles that is linked to their nanoproperties.” The findings of this study shed light on the similar responses of various species to particulate matter. According to Dario Greco, Director of the FHAIVE and Professor of Bioinformatics at Tampere University, “it proposes a solution to the one-chemical-one-signature problem, which currently limits the use of toxicogenomics in chemical safety assessment.”
“When it comes to medications or viruses, we have realized that each exposure to or infection from them leaves a mark on our immune system, which will change how our body reacts to further agents in the future. We now have proof that even small amounts of dust can boost our defenses.”
Giusy del Giudice, the first author of the scientific publication.
Linking nanoparticles and immunity
This study has ramifications that extend beyond the toxicology discipline. The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the significance of safe enactment in foreseeing the clinical result of a viral disease. The human population was more severely affected by COVID-19 in areas with higher levels of pollution.
“Our outcomes uncover a significant connection between figuring out the essential protection systems in living life forms and their safe capabilities,” Greco brings up.
“When it comes to drugs or viruses, we know that any exposure or infection leaves a trace on our immune system, and this trace will affect how we respond to other agents in the future.” “Presently, we have proof that even particulate matter primes our resistance,” says Giusy del Giudice, the principal creator of the logical distribution.
Although the negative effects of air pollution on respiratory functions have been known for some time, researchers from the Francis Crick Institute recently demonstrated that it is one of the main causes of nonsmokers getting lung cancer. In the two cases of coronavirus and cellular breakdown in the lungs, the effect of particulate matter on the safe framework was added to these impacts.
According to del Giudice, “the association between particulate matter and immune activation is of the utmost importance and may lead to crucial implications for the epidemiology.”
A bit closer to planetary wellbeing
One more significant illustration gained from the coronavirus pandemic concerns the idea of planetary wellbeing: because all living things on Earth are connected, what happens to one species will eventually spread to other species. In such a manner, the consequences of this study open likewise new roads to form coordinated models that foresee the impacts of compound openings on numerous species all at once.
“Our outcomes move toward this path by depicting major safeguard instruments normal to numerous species all through the tree of life,” del Giudice says.
Numerous fields, including energy and climate change as well as biomedicine, greatly benefit from nanotechnology. Engineered nanomaterials are materials or chemicals with particle sizes between one and one hundred nanometers, or one third of a human hair’s width.
Nanomaterials are present in thousands of consumer goods, necessitating testing to determine their potential effects on health and the environment. This technological advancement cannot keep up with traditional toxicology because it relies on animal or in vitro tests to monitor phenotypic changes in response to exposures.
“We are unable to test each new nanomaterial on each and every species that exists on Earth. We really want imaginative approaches to survey conceivable perilous items as fast as conceivable and dependably.” Grego asserts that scientific evidence like the one produced in this study can assist in the creation of new models that do not necessitate a large number of animal experiments.”
More information: G. del Giudice et al, An ancestral molecular response to nanomaterial particulates, Nature Nanotechnology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-023-01393-4
