Abstract
Background
Altered production of cytokines is believed to contribute to early childhood susceptibility to infection. The aim of this study was to get further insight into the developmental patterns of cytokine responses from birth to adulthood.
Methods
The expression levels of 13 cytokines were compared in the supernatants of phytohemaggluttinin (PHA)-stimulated whole blood from healthy neonates (cord blood, n = 8), infants ( < 1-year–old, n = 20), and school-aged children (3–15 y; n = 20). Five adults were used as reference.
Results
While Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokine levels increased progressively from birth to childhood (Mann–Whitney, p < 0.003), high IL-10 secretion at birth dropped to low adult levels in infants (p < 0.004) such that a negative correlation between IL-10 and Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokine levels at birth (Spearman’s correlation, r < −0.70, p < 0.01) converted to a positive correlation in infants (r > 0.60, p < 0.001). Finally, high IL-2, IL-7, and Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating factor (G-CSF) cytokine levels at birth decreased steadily over the first year of life (Mann–Whitney, p ≤ 0.001).
Conclusion
The most noticeable result of the study is the rapid shift from enhanced IL-10 secretion capacity at birth toward balanced IL-10/Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokine levels early in life. This change appears an essential precondition to fight pathogens and at the same time to avoid overwhelming inflammatory reactions.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank patients and mothers for participating to the study, nurses for collecting blood samples, Imane Baatout, Priscilia Egremonte, Emeline Vasseur, and Judith Tholle for storing residual plasma and Celine Neto for preparing the manuscript. The study was supported by Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris-France.
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Jeljeli, M., Guérin-El Khourouj, V., Pédron, B. et al. Ontogeny of cytokine responses to PHA from birth to adulthood. Pediatr Res 86, 63–70 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0383-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0383-y
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