Impact of climate change on immune responses and barrier defense

Climate change is not just jeopardizing the health of our planet, but it is increasingly impacting our immune health.There is an expanding body of evidence that climaterelated exposures, such as air pollution, heat, wildfires, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss significantly disrupt the functioning of the human immune system.These exposures manifest in a broad range of stimuli including antigens, allergens, heat stress, pollutants, microbiota changes, and other toxic substances.Such exposures pose a direct and indirect threat to our body's primary line of defense, the epithelial barrier, affecting its physical integrity and functional efficacy.Furthermore, these climate-related environmental stressors can hyper-stimulate the innate immune system and influence adaptive immunity, notably in terms of developing and preserving immune tolerance.The loss or failure of immune tolerance can instigate a wide spectrum of non-communicable diseases such as autoimmune conditions, allergy, respiratory illnesses, metabolic diseases, obesity, and others.As the evidence continues to unravel, there is a need for additional research in climate change and immunology that covers diverse environments in different global settings, employing modern biological and epidemiological tools.