By David Liu, PHD

Sunday July 15, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- L.R. Farcal of  Institute for Health and Consumer Protection in Italy and colleagues found amorphous silicon dioxide nanoparticles induced the production of proinflammatry cytokine and oxidative stress in epithelial human cell line NCI -H441 together with endothelial human cell line ISO-HAS1.

Silicon dioxide is a type of nanoparticles that is commonly used in processed food, dietary supplements and personal care products like cosmetics.  Early studies show nanoparticles can cause damage to molecules and cells because they are not soluble.

They found epithelial/enothelial cells when silicon dioxide nanoparticles were present produced high levels of TNF-alpha and IL-8, which "could contribute to the observed down regulation of surfactant proteins A mRNA expression resulting in the damage of the alveolar barrier."  The adverse effect was potentiated by the presence of THP-1 cells (Human acute monocytic leukemia cell line).

TNF-alpha refers to tumor necrosis factor alpha, which  is "a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation and is a member of a group of cytokines that stimulate the acute phase reaction. It is produced chiefly by activated macrophages, although it can be produced by other cell types as well," wikipedia states.

"The primary role of TNF is in the regulation of immune cells. TNF, being an endogenous pyrogen, is able to induce fever, to induce apoptotic cell death, to induce sepsis (through IL1 & IL6 production), to induce cachexia, induce inflammation, and to inhibit tumorigenesis and viral replication. Dysregulation of TNF production has been implicated in a variety of human diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, major depression, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)."

IL-8 refers to Interleukin-8, which is often associated with inflammation.  Oxidative stress induced production of high levels of IL-8 among other things, which is associated with inflammation.

Nanoparticles have been found to cause a great deal of cellular and molecular damages.   Nanoparticles like titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, zinc oxide and iron oxide are commonly used in processed food, dietary supplements and personal care products or cosmetics.   The nanoscaled particles can damage cells including DNA leading to mutations and cancer development, according to previous studies.