Elsevier

Clinical Immunology

Volume 155, Issue 1, November 2014, Pages 136-147
Clinical Immunology

Standard of hygiene and immune adaptation in newborn infants

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2014.09.009Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Cord blood transcriptome differs according to the standard of living and hygiene.

  • Newborn infants in traditional environment receive strong immune signals in utero.

  • The immune signature is developmentally mature in traditional environment.

  • Lack of in utero immunomodulation in westernized societies.

Abstract

The prevalence of immune-mediated diseases, such as allergies and type 1 diabetes, is on the rise in the developed world. In order to explore differences in the gene expression patterns induced in utero in infants born in contrasting standards of living and hygiene, we collected umbilical cord blood RNA samples from infants born in Finland (modern society), Estonia (rapidly developing society) and the Republic of Karelia, Russia (poor economic conditions). The whole blood transcriptome of Finnish and Estonian neonates differed from their Karelian counterparts, suggesting exposure to toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands and a more matured immune response in infants born in Karelia. These results further support the concept of a conspicuous plasticity in the developing immune system: the environmental factors that play a role in the susceptibility/protection towards immune-mediated diseases begin to shape the neonatal immunity already in utero and direct the maturation in accordance with the surrounding microbial milieu.

Abbreviations

APC
antigen presenting cell
DC
dendritic cell
HLA
human leukocyte antigen
LPS
lipopolysaccharide
TCR
T cell receptor
Th1
T helper cell type 1
Th2
T helper cell type 2
TLR
toll-like receptor
Treg
T regulatory cell

Keywords

Hygiene hypothesis
Newborn infant
Cord blood
Gene expression
Innate immunity
Immune adaptation

Cited by (0)

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These authors contributed equally to this work.