PROBING SAFETY OF NANO-OBJECTS BY OUTLINING SEA URCHIN IMMUNE-SIGNALLING CASCADES

PROBING SAFETY OF NANO-OBJECTS BY OUTLINING SEA URCHIN IMMUNE-SIGNALLING CASCADES byA. Pinsino, C. Costa, V. Matranga, R. Russo Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Biomedicina e Immunologia Molecolare "A. Monroy"- Palermo; annalisa.pinsino@ibim.cnr.it: caterina.costa@ibim.cnr.it; valeria.matranga@ibim.cnr.it; roberta.russo@ibim.cnr.it Abstract - Sea urchin immune cells represent an excellent model to study innate immunity.It possesses an extraordinary and singular adaptive capacity to environmental changes, due to its responsive immune system, which provides protection, robustness, and molecular plasticity, both in the adult and in the embryonic lives. A survey for immune genes has shown that the immune system is complex, sophisticated and mediated by an amazingly large repertoire of host sensors genes, part of which are closely related to human homologs. Under in vivo and vitro experimental conditions immune cells have shown to respond to environmental hazards, including metal oxide NPs, by the modulation of a subset of stress and immune response proteins and genes. Here we focused on the molecular basis of the effects ofTitanium dioxide (TiO2) and iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles on sea urchin immune cell behavior in vitro. NPs influence the signalling cascades involving a complex network of genes encoding for proteins with different functions. This workis dedicated to Valeria Matranga, prematurely passed away in April this year, after a long and courageous battle against illness. Mr. Mauro Biondois acknowledged for his technical assistance in the sea urchin maintenance.