Tattoo Ink Moves Through the Body, Killing Immune Cells and Weakening Vaccine Response
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The researchers discovered that once a tattoo is made, the ink rapidly travels through the lymphatic system and, within hours, accumulates in large quantities in the lymph nodes — key organs of the body’s defense system. Inside these nodes, immune cells called macrophages actively capture all types of pigment. This ink uptake triggers an inflammatory response with two phases: an acute phase lasting about two days after tattooing, followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years. The chronic phase is particularly concerning because it weakens the immune system, potentially increasing the susceptibility to infections and cancer. The study also showed that macrophages cannot break down the ink like they would other pathogens, wich causes them to die, especially with red and black inks, suggesting these colors may be more toxic. As a result, ink remains trapped in the lymph nodes in a continuous cycle of capture and cell death, gradually affecting the immune system’s defensive capacity.
The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination.
The anti tatto crowd licking their lips over this one.
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“Human immune cells”, not cells in humans.
That’s not to say this doesn’t happen in humans, it very well may. It’s intriguing research, but it’s still only demonstrated in mice. Important to always keep that in mind until we get better information (which this research is at least leading us to).
Lots of stuff happens in mice (or pigs, or a petri dish) and we find doesn’t replicate to homo sapiens.
It’s also important to keep on mind that the burden of proof is on something to prove it is safe, not that something is unsafe. It happening to human cells in mice would have me assume it happens to human cells in humans until proven otherwise (that’s the null hypothesis in this situation). But also I don’t have a tattoo or any interest in getting one so I’m not too bothered by this.
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The anti tatto crowd licking their lips over this one.
@Wubwub anti tattoo crowd? Like fundamentalist Baptists? -
Well, then. That could explain a lot about why I always feel like I’m dying.
are you the puzzle man?
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followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years.
how many years? am I doomed for life because what I did to my body when I was 18
I think if these effects were universal and as serious as the paper makes out, we’d have noticed them waaay sooner.
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It’s also important to keep on mind that the burden of proof is on something to prove it is safe, not that something is unsafe. It happening to human cells in mice would have me assume it happens to human cells in humans until proven otherwise (that’s the null hypothesis in this situation). But also I don’t have a tattoo or any interest in getting one so I’m not too bothered by this.
Humans have been tattooing each other for over 5000 years. I would argue that it’s not really a case of “they need to be proven to be safe”. That ship has sailed. If they are unsafe, we should know, but I think the burden of proof has definitely shifted on tattoos given their extensive history without obvious negative repercussion
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Well, then. That could explain a lot about why I always feel like I’m dying.
I have the opposite problem, my immune system is in overdrive. I should get a tattoo to reign it in.
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@Wubwub anti tattoo crowd? Like fundamentalist Baptists?
I suppose I would be in that crowd. I’m an atheist, but I think the whole tattooing thing is kinda stupid. To each their own of course, I don’t care if anyone gets a tattoo, but the culture around it annoys me and I think it’s a waste of one’s body. I do like some of the art styles, but why not just print it on a shirt and wear it?
That being said, I think it’s petty bad if it turns out the ink causes a higher risk of disease. Like with cigarettes in the past people weren’t informed about the consequences before making their choices. That sucks and I don’t wish it on anyone.
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I suppose I would be in that crowd. I’m an atheist, but I think the whole tattooing thing is kinda stupid. To each their own of course, I don’t care if anyone gets a tattoo, but the culture around it annoys me and I think it’s a waste of one’s body. I do like some of the art styles, but why not just print it on a shirt and wear it?
That being said, I think it’s petty bad if it turns out the ink causes a higher risk of disease. Like with cigarettes in the past people weren’t informed about the consequences before making their choices. That sucks and I don’t wish it on anyone.
It’s good that you’ve expressed misconception as the source of this opinion, and admitted to your lack of understanding. The rest of the work could fall in nicely, if you put the effort forth. I’ll give ya one for free: “the culture around it” isn’t some singular entity, but a varied and colorful amalgam of countless inspirations, backgrounds, beliefs, reasons, etc., and the only thing that oversimplifying does here is stunt your personal growth.
You got this.
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The researchers discovered that once a tattoo is made, the ink rapidly travels through the lymphatic system and, within hours, accumulates in large quantities in the lymph nodes — key organs of the body’s defense system. Inside these nodes, immune cells called macrophages actively capture all types of pigment. This ink uptake triggers an inflammatory response with two phases: an acute phase lasting about two days after tattooing, followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years. The chronic phase is particularly concerning because it weakens the immune system, potentially increasing the susceptibility to infections and cancer. The study also showed that macrophages cannot break down the ink like they would other pathogens, wich causes them to die, especially with red and black inks, suggesting these colors may be more toxic. As a result, ink remains trapped in the lymph nodes in a continuous cycle of capture and cell death, gradually affecting the immune system’s defensive capacity.
The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination.
I don’t want to use AI to generate the sick, tattooed mice in this story, but I bet they’re pretty rad. (Animal testing, less so, jokes aside)
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I think if these effects were universal and as serious as the paper makes out, we’d have noticed them waaay sooner.
To be fair, it’s possible it has been a significant factor to weakend immune systems all along; it was just now that the connection/link with tattoo ink was identified. Not a scientist obviously, just spitballing.
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@Wubwub anti tattoo crowd? Like fundamentalist Baptists?
I’m a pantheist and think that tattoos are just another form of self harm
My gf has tattoos and I don’t mind them but I wish she wouldn’t get any more. Impossible to find a girl without tattoos who would date me anyway lol I tend to attract the alternative crowd and basically everyone I’d be into has them so it is what it is
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The anti tatto crowd licking their lips over this one.
It’s just tiresome to hear these hyperventilating articles without any real measure of the degree of risk or long term consequences.
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It’s just tiresome to hear these hyperventilating articles without any real measure of the degree of risk or long term consequences.
Exactly, I understand the concept of the harm they are talking about but they don’t really give much exact examples of the degree of harm its a total nothing burger of an article
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The researchers discovered that once a tattoo is made, the ink rapidly travels through the lymphatic system and, within hours, accumulates in large quantities in the lymph nodes — key organs of the body’s defense system. Inside these nodes, immune cells called macrophages actively capture all types of pigment. This ink uptake triggers an inflammatory response with two phases: an acute phase lasting about two days after tattooing, followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years. The chronic phase is particularly concerning because it weakens the immune system, potentially increasing the susceptibility to infections and cancer. The study also showed that macrophages cannot break down the ink like they would other pathogens, wich causes them to die, especially with red and black inks, suggesting these colors may be more toxic. As a result, ink remains trapped in the lymph nodes in a continuous cycle of capture and cell death, gradually affecting the immune system’s defensive capacity.
The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination.
would it be possible to solve this problem by making different inks? or would any ink that doesn’t have this problem just inherently be non-permanent
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In the study the longest they waited after tattooing the mouse before giving the vaccine was 2 months.
They made some connections with people that had tattoos for a much longer time. But I can’t tell how meaningful those connections are.
This is well outside of my field.
Edit:
Also, it sounds like the tattooed mice were less responsive to the covid vaccine but more responsive to the Influenza vaccine.
… This is the internet. You can always be like the rest and pretend you know everything and are multi discaplined, instead of taking the proper, less fun, honest route.
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The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination
I suspect the effect might be less significant in humans (not human cells, whole humans) because of the square-cube law.
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I think if these effects were universal and as serious as the paper makes out, we’d have noticed them waaay sooner.
And yet things like asbestos, lead, and smoking all took way longer than you’d expect (given they were a lot more universal).
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The researchers discovered that once a tattoo is made, the ink rapidly travels through the lymphatic system and, within hours, accumulates in large quantities in the lymph nodes — key organs of the body’s defense system. Inside these nodes, immune cells called macrophages actively capture all types of pigment. This ink uptake triggers an inflammatory response with two phases: an acute phase lasting about two days after tattooing, followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years. The chronic phase is particularly concerning because it weakens the immune system, potentially increasing the susceptibility to infections and cancer. The study also showed that macrophages cannot break down the ink like they would other pathogens, wich causes them to die, especially with red and black inks, suggesting these colors may be more toxic. As a result, ink remains trapped in the lymph nodes in a continuous cycle of capture and cell death, gradually affecting the immune system’s defensive capacity.
The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination.
There are far too many humans with tattoos that could have been researched extensively, but they chose mice. Mice do not have the same kind of skin density as humans, and I doubt a tattoo artist or researcher would have the talent to tattoo a mouse’s skin.
There’s just so many things wrong with using mice in this study. So many bad ratios with the size of the animal. I mean, for fuck’s sake, tattoo artists already practice on pig skin. Pigs would have been a better analogue, but honestly, they should have picked the millions of humans who were already tattooing themselves.
Of course, if they did that, they wouldn’t get the same result and be able to push this sensationalist science news title, now would they? Except, in this case, we’ve gone from research paper to straight to sensationalist news title in one step! Just let the institute PR department push the narrative for you, without having to wait for that pesky news cycle to crawl through the telephone game.
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The researchers discovered that once a tattoo is made, the ink rapidly travels through the lymphatic system and, within hours, accumulates in large quantities in the lymph nodes — key organs of the body’s defense system. Inside these nodes, immune cells called macrophages actively capture all types of pigment. This ink uptake triggers an inflammatory response with two phases: an acute phase lasting about two days after tattooing, followed by a chronic phase that can persist for years. The chronic phase is particularly concerning because it weakens the immune system, potentially increasing the susceptibility to infections and cancer. The study also showed that macrophages cannot break down the ink like they would other pathogens, wich causes them to die, especially with red and black inks, suggesting these colors may be more toxic. As a result, ink remains trapped in the lymph nodes in a continuous cycle of capture and cell death, gradually affecting the immune system’s defensive capacity.
The study found that tattooed mice produced significantly lower levels of antibodies after vaccination. This effect is likely due to the impaired function of immune cells that remain associated with tattoo ink for long periods. Similarly, human immune cells previously exposed to ink also showed a weakened response to vaccination.
Ephemeral Remi should be dead by now.
