Maternal and fetal immune responses during pregnancy and the first year of life and the development of allergic disease
Maternal and fetal immune responses during pregnancy and the first year of life and the development of allergic disease
This thesis investigates the development of fetal immune responses to environmental allergens during pregnancy, compares immune responses of full term babies, born to allergic asthmatic mothers with babies born to non allergic mothers and to their mothers responses, and assesses the effects of postnatal food allergen exposure on the development of atopic eczema in babies born to high risk (HR) parents. Blood obtained from fetuses and premature babies (15-34 weeks gestation) analysed by flow cytometry, showed increasing proportions of T cells (CD3+), and activated (CD25+) and memory (CD45RO+) cells of both helper (CD4) and cytotoxic (CD8) phenotype, with increasing gestational age. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with the mitogen, PHA, and the allergens, cat fur, birch pollen and (-lactogloblin, showed increasing proliferative responses with increasing gestation. Responses to birch pollen at delivery were linked to maternal allergen exposure from 22 weeks of pregnancy. High maternal exposure resulted in a higher fetal proliferative responses compared to babies born to mothers who had not been exposed beyond 22 weeks. These results indicate that fetal exposure to environmental allergens has occurred, via the mother, during intra-uterine life, although the mechanism of this exposure remains to be elucidated. Cytokines (IFN-( and IL-10) were measured by ELISA in supernatants from these allergen stimulated PBMC and showed increasing quantities of IFN-( with gestational age, with little change in IL-10 production. This indicates maturation of IFN-( producing cells, such as T helper cells and natural killer cells, and may represent the fetus counterbalancing the effects of the TH2-like cytokines produced at the maternal-fetal interface. At birth, (full term) HR babies had lower proliferative responses to PHA than their allergic mothers, and babies born to non-allergic mothers. This indicates an immaturity in the T cells responses in HR babies.
University of Southampton
1996
Jones, Amanda Clare
(1996)
Maternal and fetal immune responses during pregnancy and the first year of life and the development of allergic disease.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis investigates the development of fetal immune responses to environmental allergens during pregnancy, compares immune responses of full term babies, born to allergic asthmatic mothers with babies born to non allergic mothers and to their mothers responses, and assesses the effects of postnatal food allergen exposure on the development of atopic eczema in babies born to high risk (HR) parents. Blood obtained from fetuses and premature babies (15-34 weeks gestation) analysed by flow cytometry, showed increasing proportions of T cells (CD3+), and activated (CD25+) and memory (CD45RO+) cells of both helper (CD4) and cytotoxic (CD8) phenotype, with increasing gestational age. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with the mitogen, PHA, and the allergens, cat fur, birch pollen and (-lactogloblin, showed increasing proliferative responses with increasing gestation. Responses to birch pollen at delivery were linked to maternal allergen exposure from 22 weeks of pregnancy. High maternal exposure resulted in a higher fetal proliferative responses compared to babies born to mothers who had not been exposed beyond 22 weeks. These results indicate that fetal exposure to environmental allergens has occurred, via the mother, during intra-uterine life, although the mechanism of this exposure remains to be elucidated. Cytokines (IFN-( and IL-10) were measured by ELISA in supernatants from these allergen stimulated PBMC and showed increasing quantities of IFN-( with gestational age, with little change in IL-10 production. This indicates maturation of IFN-( producing cells, such as T helper cells and natural killer cells, and may represent the fetus counterbalancing the effects of the TH2-like cytokines produced at the maternal-fetal interface. At birth, (full term) HR babies had lower proliferative responses to PHA than their allergic mothers, and babies born to non-allergic mothers. This indicates an immaturity in the T cells responses in HR babies.
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Published date: 1996
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Local EPrints ID: 462933
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462933
PURE UUID: ceb4868e-c488-418a-a1ef-7cf82209c0ec
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 20:26
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 20:26
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Author:
Amanda Clare Jones
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