Immunological effects of graphene family nanomaterials

•GFNs can suppress or activate immune system, depending on physicochemical properties and functionalization.•Immunomodulation may realize biomedical applications.

Graphene and its derivatives are called graphene family nanomaterials (GFNs). Over the past few years, they have been heavily investigated in biomedical arena due to their extraordinary physiochemical properties and potential biomedical applications. However, the biocompatibility of GFNs is becoming important for biomedical applications such as drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering, biosensing and imaging. In this regard, it is crucial to understand the process of interaction of GFNs with immune system, which is also meaningful to manipulate their interaction for safe and efficient applications. Herein, different modalities of GFNs interaction with various components of immune system and the outcome of these interactions are described and evaluated. This review also summarizes different mechanisms involved in immunological effects of GFNs and techniques that are employed for GFNs, to escape the clutches of immune system. We elucidate the intricate balance between immune-stimulation and immune-suppression and expect that understanding of immunological effects of graphene derivatives would help evaluate and estimate the possible biomedical applications as far as immune system is concerned.

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