Nano-titanium dioxide exposure and autophagy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO₂) is widely used in many aspects of human life. However, there are still inconsistent conclusions about the effects of nano-TiO₂ exposure on autophagy. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were used to reveal whether nano-TiO₂ induces dysregulation of autophagy. The results showed that LC3 II, Beclin-1 protein, and LC3 II/LC3 I protein ratio were significantly increased, but p62 protein was insignificantly changed. Subgroup analyses showed that p62 and Beclin-1 protein were increased significantly when the treatment time of nano-TiO₂ was >24 h. Nano-TiO₂ can induce dysregulation of autophagy and cause stagnation of autophagy after prolonged exposure.

Keywords:

• Nano-titanium dioxide
• autophagy
• systematic review
• meta-analysis
• stagnation

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [21966027, 81560536].