Tag Archives: immunity

Tattoos can cause lifelong changes to the body’s immunity as well as affect vaccine responses, according to a new study. An international team of researchers has found that tattoo ink collects in the lymph nodes, affecting the body’s resistance to disease, in findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While studies have previously investigated the toxicity of tattoo ink, scientists say this is the first time their effect on immune responses has been explored. Using tattoos on mice, researchers found that the animals demonstrated chronic inflammation in their lymph nodes that was “acute and long-lasting”, the death of macrophages (a type of white blood cell), and altered immune response to vaccinations.Tattoos could affect immune response and vaccine response (Getty/iStock)“This work represents the most extensive study to date regarding the effect of tattoo...