An emerging role of microplastics in the etiology of lung ground glass nodules

Abstract Pulmonary ground glass nodules (GGNs) have been increasingly identified in past decades and is becoming an important clinical dilemma in oncology. Meanwhile, humans persistently inhale microplastics which are dominant in the air. However, the retention of “non-self” microplastics in human lung and its correlation with pulmonary GGNs remains elusive. In this study, we firstly demonstrated the presence of microfibers and microplastics in human lung, with higher detection rates in GGNs in comparison to those in normal tissue. Moreover, both types and colors of microfibers in tumor were richer than those in normal tissues. Intriguingly, high risk of microfibers exposure predisposes the formation of pulmonary GGN. Further, increased roughness surface was observed in microfibers isolated in human lung, indicating the possible link of surface roughness to the formation of pulmonary GGN. Collectively, our findings reveal an emerging role of environmental microplastics exposure in the etiology of pulmonary GGN. One Sentence Summary The exposure of environmental microplastics is a risk factor of pulmonary GGN.