Dr. Sasha Bernatsky and her colleagues from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) indicate that their work contributes to a better understanding of the origins of autoimmune diseases, by showing that fine particles are not only dangerous for the health of the heart and lungs.
The idea that the immune system can be affected by air pollution has been explored.
explained Dr. Bernatsky.
The immune battle
When the immune system detects an intruder, she added, it produces antibodies. Good antibodies are those that the body needs to defend itself against a virus or a microbe, but many antibodies can cause disease because your immune system reacts too intensely
.
There are several reasons for this, but one of them could be air pollution
said the researcher.
Analyzing data from Ontario – Canada’s most populous province – Dr. Bernatsky and her colleagues found that fine particles in air pollution were associated with higher concentrations of a biomarker linked to autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus.
Specifically, the team found that samples from people living in areas with high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution more often had higher concentrations of antinuclear antibodies (ANA).
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PM2.5 particles are so fine that they can lodge deep in the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and become a chronic source of inflammation. They can have natural (such as forest fires) or human (such as burning factories or engines) origins.
We found a significant association, particularly at the highest levels of these antibodies
according to Dre Bernatsky.
This work and others we are currently doing are building a body of evidence that air pollution can enter your bloodstream and trigger an immune system response.
Dr. Bernatsky had also documented, in a study published in 2017, that living near industrial sources of fine particle emissions was linked to an increase in blood markers of another autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis.
It therefore seems that the changes that occur in our body during exposure to air pollution go well beyond a simple asthma attack.
she said.
We are beginning to understand that antibodies and inflammation may actually play a role in many diseases, even diabetes, cancer or heart disease
Dre Bernatsky concluded. So it was very important for me to provide evidence suggesting that the environment, and specifically air pollution, contributes to certain immune system disorders, sometimes including systemic lupus.
Unequal depending on the region
Although air quality in Canada is much better than in other places, researchers point out that no level of exposure to PM2.5 is without danger. Canadians are not all exposed to the same risks either, since some sometimes live near polluting industrial establishments or major highways, or even live in areas affected each year by forest fires.
Autoimmune diseases like lupus also disproportionately affect women and non-white populations, including Indigenous people.