Standard of hygiene and immune adaptation in newborn infants

Henna Kallionpää; Essi Laajala; Viveka Öling; Taina Härkönen; Vallo Tillmann; Natalya V Dorshakova; Jorma Ilonen; Harri Lähdesmäki; Mikael Knip; Riitta Lahesmaa; DIABIMMUNE Study Group

doi:10.1016/j.clim.2014.09.009

Standard of hygiene and immune adaptation in newborn infants

Clin Immunol. 2014 Nov;155(1):136-147. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2014.09.009. Epub 2014 Sep 22.

Authors

Collaborators

DIABIMMUNE Study Group:
Katriina Koski¹¹, Matti Koski¹¹, Samppa Ryhänen¹², Heli Siljander¹², Anu-Maaria Hämäläinen¹³, Anne Ormisson¹⁴, Aleksandr Peet¹⁴, Valentina Ulich¹⁵, Elena Kuzmicheva¹⁵, Sergei Mokurov¹⁵, Svetlana Markova¹⁶, Svetlana Pylova¹⁶, Marina Isakova¹⁷, Elena Shakurova¹⁷, Vladimir Petrov¹⁸, Tatyana Karapetyan¹⁹, Tatyana Varlamova¹⁹, Jorma Ilonen²⁰, Minna Kiviniemi²¹, Kristi Alnek²², Helis Janson²², Raivo Uibo²², Tiit Salum²³, Erika von Mutius²⁴, Juliane Weber²⁴, Helena Ahlfors²⁵, Robert Moulder²⁵, Janne Nieminen²⁶, Terhi Ruohtula²⁶, Outi Vaarala²⁶, Hanna Honkanen²⁷, Heikki Hyöty²⁸, Anita Kondrashova²⁷, Sami Oikarinen²⁷, Hermie J M Harmsen²⁹, Marcus C De Goffau²⁹, Gjalt Welling³⁰, Kirsi Alahuhta³⁰, Tuuli Korhonen³¹, Suvi M Virtanen³²

Affiliations

¹ Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, 20521 Turku, Finland; Turku Doctoral Programme of Biomedical Sciences, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520 Turku, Finland; The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland.
² Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, 20521 Turku, Finland; The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland; The National Graduate School in Informational and Structural Biology, 20520 Turku, Finland; Department of Information and Computer Science, Aalto University School of Science, 00076 Aalto, Finland.
³ Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, 20521 Turku, Finland; The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland.
⁴ The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland; Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Diabetes and Obesity Research Program, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, University of Tartu and Tartu University Hospital, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
⁶ Petrozavodsk State University, 185910 Petrozavodsk, Russia.
⁷ Immunogenetics Laboratory, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland; Department of Clinical Microbiology, University of Eastern Finland, 70210 Kuopio, Finland.
⁸ Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, 20521 Turku, Finland; The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland; Department of Information and Computer Science, Aalto University School of Science, 00076 Aalto, Finland.
⁹ The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland; Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Diabetes and Obesity Research Program, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Folkhälsan Research Center, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; Department of Pediatrics, Tampere University Hospital, 33521 Tampere, Finland.
¹⁰ Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, 20521 Turku, Finland; The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research, Finland. Electronic address: riitta.lahesmaa@btk.fi.
¹¹ Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
¹² Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki, Finland.
¹³ Jorvi Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
¹⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Tartu University Hospital, Estonia.
¹⁵ Ministry of Health and Social Development, Karelian Republic of the Russian Federation, Russia.
¹⁶ Children's Republic Hospital, Karelian Republic of the Russian Federation, Russia.
¹⁷ Perinatal Center, Karelian Republic of the Russian Federation, Russia.
¹⁸ Maternity Hospital N° 1, Petrozavodsk, Russia.
¹⁹ Petrozavodsk State University, Russia.
²⁰ Immunogenetics Laboratory, University of Turku and Department of Clinical Microbiology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
²¹ Immunogenetics Laboratory, University of Turku, Finland.
²² Department of Immunology, University of Tartu, Estonia.
²³ OÜ Immunotron, Tartu, Estonia.
²⁴ Children's Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians Universität, Munchen, Germany.
²⁵ Turku Centre of Biotechnology, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi, Finland.
²⁶ Department of Vaccination and Immune Protection, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
²⁷ Department of Virology, University of Tampere, Finland.
²⁸ Department of Virology, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Finland.
²⁹ University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands.
³⁰ Department for Welfare and Health Promotion, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
³¹ Department of Life Style and Participation, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
³² Department of Life Style and Participation, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.

PMID: 25245264
DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2014.09.009

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.

Keywords: Cord blood; Gene expression; Hygiene hypothesis; Immune adaptation; Innate immunity; Newborn infant.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Estonia
Female
Fetal Blood / metabolism*
Finland
Gene Expression Regulation / immunology*
Genotype
HLA-DR3 Antigen / genetics
HLA-DR3 Antigen / metabolism
HLA-DR4 Antigen / genetics
HLA-DR4 Antigen / metabolism
Humans
Hygiene*
Hypersensitivity / immunology
Infant, Newborn
Male
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
RNA / genetics
RNA / metabolism*
Russia
Signal Transduction
Socioeconomic Factors
Transcriptome*

Substances

HLA-DR3 Antigen
HLA-DR4 Antigen
RNA