Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9899
ISSN: 2155-9899
Mercedes Rey
Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Cell Immunol
The impact of metal oxide Nanoparticles (NPs) on the immune system has been studied in vitro using human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs). Metal oxide NPs (ZnO, CeO 2 , TiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 ) induced changes in the expression levels of adhesion molecules and the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in these cells. Proliferation studies were carried out with CFSE in response to PHA, finding an increase in T cell proliferation upon cell exposure to TiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 NPs. For ZnO NPs, a decrease in the chemotactic response to SDF-1α was observed. No changes were found in basophil activation and leukocyte oxidative burst after phagocytosis. Despite the absence of cytotoxicity, metal oxide NPs are not inert; they alter the expression levels of adhesion molecules and chemokine receptors, key actors in the immune response, and affect important cell functions such as T cell proliferative response to mitogens and chemotaxis .
Mercedes Rey is qualified as a specialist in Immunology in 2002 and gained her PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) in 2007, for her work on the chemokine receptors in T lymphocytes and their interaction with cytoskeletal proteins. In 2008, she moved to Institut Curie (Paris, France), where she worked on the molecular mechanisms underlying the extracellular matrix degradation associated with metastasis of breast cancer cells. From 2010 she has been working as an Immunologist at the Hospital Universitario Donostia (San Sebastián, Spain), where she combines her assistential duties (dignosing leukaemias and lymphomas by flow cytometry, among others) with research work, especially focusing on the potential adverse effects of the interactions between metallic nanoparticles and the immune cells.