Effect of in vivo administration of carbon nanotubes on plasmacytoid dendritic cells function in lung carcinoma bearing-mice

• Grant number: 13/00823-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Applied Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Leonilda Maria Barbosa dos Santos
• Grantee: Gisele Tomassoni
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This multidisciplinary project is being coordinated by prof. Dr. Vitor Baranauskas of Electrical Engineering, UNICAMP. The aim of this project is to study the biological functions of nanoparticles. Our laboratory was responsible for studying the effect of carbon nanoparticles in the immune response of experimental animals. We published the first paper showing that non-functionalized carbon nanotubes stimulated both the innate and acquired immune response (Grecco et al, 2011). Then we show that carbon nanotubes interfere in neoantigen presentation to T lymphocytes in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model (submitted for publication) and finally we show that inoculation of carbon nanotubes, even without functionalization, stimulates the immune response of animals with lung carcinoma and reduced growth of the tumor mass. The reduction of tumor growth was accompanied by increased lymphocyte proliferation and production of interferon-³, with the reduction of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 and TGF², as well as IL-17 (submitted for publication).In this proposal is our goal to continue studying the effect of carbon nanotubes on the immune response of animals with lung cancer, more specifically intended to evaluate the effect of these nanoparticles on the function of plasmacytoid dendritic cells. (AU)