TY - JOUR
T1 - Season of birth shapes neonatal immune function
AU - Thysen, Anna Hammerich
AU - Rasmussen, Morten Arendt
AU - Kreiner-Møller, Eskil
AU - Larsen, Jeppe Madura
AU - Følsgaard, Nilofar Vahman
AU - Bønnelykke, Klaus
AU - Stokholm, Jakob
AU - Bisgaard, Hans
AU - Brix, Susanne
N1 - Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/4
Y1 - 2016/4
N2 - BACKGROUND: Birth season has been reported to be a risk factor for several immune-mediated diseases. We hypothesized that this association is mediated by differential changes in neonatal immune phenotype and function with birth season.OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the influence of season of birth on cord blood immune cell subsets and inflammatory mediators in neonatal airways.METHODS: Cord blood was phenotyped for 26 different immune cell subsets, and at 1 month of age, 20 cytokines and chemokines were quantified in airway mucosal lining fluid. Multivariate partial least squares discriminant analyses were applied to determine whether certain immune profiles dominate by birth season, and correlations between individual cord blood immune cells and early airway immune mediators were defined.RESULTS: We found a birth season-related fluctuation in neonatal immune cell subsets and in early-life airway mucosal immune function. The seasonal airway immune pattern was associated with the number of activated and regulatory T cells in cord blood whereas it was independent of concomitant presence of pathogenic airway microbes. Specifically, summer newborns presented with the lowest levels of all cell types and mediators; fall newborns displayed high levels of activated T cells and mucosal IL-12p70, TNF-α, IL-13, IL-10, and IL-2; and winter newborns had the highest levels of innate immune cells, IL-5, type 17-related immune mediators, and activated T cells.CONCLUSION: Birth season fluctuations seem to affect neonatal immune development and result in differential potentiation of cord blood immune cells and early airway mucosal immune function.
AB - BACKGROUND: Birth season has been reported to be a risk factor for several immune-mediated diseases. We hypothesized that this association is mediated by differential changes in neonatal immune phenotype and function with birth season.OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the influence of season of birth on cord blood immune cell subsets and inflammatory mediators in neonatal airways.METHODS: Cord blood was phenotyped for 26 different immune cell subsets, and at 1 month of age, 20 cytokines and chemokines were quantified in airway mucosal lining fluid. Multivariate partial least squares discriminant analyses were applied to determine whether certain immune profiles dominate by birth season, and correlations between individual cord blood immune cells and early airway immune mediators were defined.RESULTS: We found a birth season-related fluctuation in neonatal immune cell subsets and in early-life airway mucosal immune function. The seasonal airway immune pattern was associated with the number of activated and regulatory T cells in cord blood whereas it was independent of concomitant presence of pathogenic airway microbes. Specifically, summer newborns presented with the lowest levels of all cell types and mediators; fall newborns displayed high levels of activated T cells and mucosal IL-12p70, TNF-α, IL-13, IL-10, and IL-2; and winter newborns had the highest levels of innate immune cells, IL-5, type 17-related immune mediators, and activated T cells.CONCLUSION: Birth season fluctuations seem to affect neonatal immune development and result in differential potentiation of cord blood immune cells and early airway mucosal immune function.
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.08.041
DO - 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.08.041
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26581916
SN - 0091-6749
VL - 137
SP - 1238
EP - 1246
JO - The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology
JF - The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology
IS - 4
ER -