The immunological response to breast implant: the role of cells and cytokines in the periprosthetic capsule and their involvement in the onset of the autoimmune diseases
Since their discovery breast prostheses have been criticized for being responsible for triggering systemic autoimmune disease. The presence of breast implants causes a natural foreign body reaction characterized by the infiltration of macrophages and T-cells. In order to understand which immunological pathways could be responsible for giving rise to, and the development of, connective tissue disease such as systemic sclerosis, I considered the cells and cytokines involved, focusing on the relationship between tissue growth factor-β, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and T helper 17 and/or T regulatory cells, and their effects on the different steps of capsular tissue formation. A disturbance in the modulation of these key cytokines may be responsible, in susceptible individuals, for a perpetuation of the inflammatory reaction which can locally lead to capsular contracture and at the systemic level may contribute to triggering autoimmune disease
