Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic obstructive lung disease leak inhaled nanoparticles to the blood

There is a link between acute elevated air pollution levels and sudden death. One theory is that nano particles ( In a previous study on healthy subjects (n=10) we have shown low clearance of inhaled nano particles into the blood. Here we include 9 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and 11 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both groups have alveolar damage; destruction and formation of scar tissue in IPF, and emphysema in COPD. All patients inhaled 111Indium radiolabeled nano particles manufactured using a modified particle generator (Technegas). Planar scintigraphy was performed during 10 days. Of the particles deposited in the lungs at exposure, 34% of the particles translocated to the blood in IPF-patients during the first week and 24 % in COPD-patients, which is 6 to 9 times higher than the 3.6 % earlier seen in healthy subjects (Fig. 1). Also DTPA clearance was investigated in this group, but the correlation between clearance of nano particles and DTPA-clearande was poor (R2=0.1). These findings in human lung can play an important role in understanding deaths due to air pollution, co-morbidity in COPD, and disease mechanisms in IPF.