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Jornal de Pediatria 2021To describe the ontogeny of the immune system and the adaptive mechanisms of the immune system in the neonatal period, with an emphasis on transplacental antibody... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
To describe the ontogeny of the immune system and the adaptive mechanisms of the immune system in the neonatal period, with an emphasis on transplacental antibody transport and breastfeeding.
SOURCE OF DATA
Non-systematic literature review in the PubMed database.
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
The last two decades have witnessed a great advance in the knowledge of the immune system since conception. Several investigation tools have provided insight on phenomena that were previously inadequately understood. Still expanding, the functional and molecular investigation of various aspects of the immune system will make it possible to understand how intra-uterus maternal-fetal exchanges, the maternal microbiota interacting with the fetus and newborn, and the acquisition of immunological competence occur in healthy and disease scenarios.
CONCLUSIONS
In-depth knowledge of the development of the immune system and of the adaptive mechanisms that allow a safer transition to the extrauterine environment are fundamental components of optimizing maternal and young infant vaccination, as well as the strategies associated with full postnatal development, and the early diagnosis and treatment of innate errors of immunity.
Topics: Female; Fetus; Humans; Immune System; Immunocompetence; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Microbiota; Pregnancy
PubMed: 33181111
DOI: 10.1016/j.jped.2020.10.006 -
Jornal de Pediatria 2021To draw physicians' attention to the different warning signs of diseases of inborn errors of immunity. (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
To draw physicians' attention to the different warning signs of diseases of inborn errors of immunity.
DATA SOURCES
A non-systematic review of the literature was carried out in the PubMed, LILACS, and SciELO databases, in addition to consultation of reference textbooks.
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
It is known that the lack of immunological competence observed in patients with inborn errors of immunity diseases causes particularly serious and/or recurrent infections. However, manifestations related to autoimmunity, inflammation, allergies, and malignancy can also occur. Aiming at the early identification of these patients, a list of warning signs for inborn errors of immunity was created, in which the need for intravenous antibiotics or prolonged antibiotics use to control infection, failure to thrive, and positive family history for this group of diseases are considered the most sensitive. Regarding non-infectious manifestations, early onset, difficulty in controlling with the usual treatments, atypical presentations or association with other warning signs are noteworthy, and investigation for inborn errors of immunity in these situations is recommended.
CONCLUSIONS
This article highlights the importance of considering this group of diseases even in the face of patients with non-infectious manifestations. Disclosure of inborn errors of immunity diseases, especially to non-specialists, is essential for early diagnosis and, consequently, for the reduction of these patients' morbidity and mortality.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Failure to Thrive; Humans; Immunocompetence; Inflammation
PubMed: 33176165
DOI: 10.1016/j.jped.2020.10.007 -
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association... Aug 2015
Review
Topics: Bacterial Infections; Diet; Exercise; Health Status; Humans; Immunocompetence; Life Style; Microbiota; Probiotics; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 25991836
DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.141072 -
The Science of the Total Environment Dec 2020By determining susceptibility to disease, environment-driven variation in immune responses can affect the health, productivity and fitness of vertebrates. Yet how the...
By determining susceptibility to disease, environment-driven variation in immune responses can affect the health, productivity and fitness of vertebrates. Yet how the different components of the total environment control this immune variation is remarkably poorly understood. Here, through combining field observation, experimentation and modelling, we are able to quantitatively partition the key environmental drivers of constitutive immune allocation in a model wild vertebrate (three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus). We demonstrate that, in natural populations, thermal conditions and diet alone are sufficient (and necessary) to explain a dominant (seasonal) axis of variation in immune allocation. This dominant axis contributes to both infection resistance and tolerance and, in turn, to the vital rates of infectious agents and the progression of the disease they cause. Our results illuminate the environmental regulation of vertebrate immunity (given the evolutionary conservation of the molecular pathways involved) and they identify mechanisms through which immunocompetence and host-parasite dynamics might be impacted by changing environments. In particular, we predict a dominant sensitivity of immunocompetence and immunocompetence-driven host-pathogen dynamics to host diet shifts.
Topics: Animals; Immunity; Immunocompetence; Smegmamorpha; Vertebrates
PubMed: 32799018
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141152 -
Scientific Reports Oct 2020The inclusion of health-related traits, or functionally associated genetic markers, in pig breeding programs could contribute to produce more robust and disease...
The inclusion of health-related traits, or functionally associated genetic markers, in pig breeding programs could contribute to produce more robust and disease resistant animals. The aim of the present work was to study the genetic determinism and genomic regions associated to global immunocompetence and health in a Duroc pig population. For this purpose, a set of 30 health-related traits covering immune (mainly innate), haematological, and stress parameters were measured in 432 healthy Duroc piglets aged 8 weeks. Moderate to high heritabilities were obtained for most traits and significant genetic correlations among them were observed. A genome wide association study pointed out 31 significantly associated SNPs at whole-genome level, located in six chromosomal regions on pig chromosomes SSC4, SSC6, SSC17 and SSCX, for IgG, γδ T-cells, C-reactive protein, lymphocytes phagocytic capacity, total number of lymphocytes, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin. A total of 16 promising functionally-related candidate genes, including CRP, NFATC2, PRDX1, SLA, ST3GAL1, and VPS4A, have been proposed to explain the variation of immune and haematological traits. Our results enhance the knowledge of the genetic control of traits related with immunity and support the possibility of applying effective selection programs to improve immunocompetence in pigs.
Topics: Animals; Genetic Markers; Genome-Wide Association Study; Immunocompetence; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Quantitative Trait Loci; Swine
PubMed: 33116177
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-75417-7 -
FEMS Microbiology Reviews Mar 2019Human γ-herpesviruses include the closely related tumor viruses Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). EBV is the most... (Review)
Review
Human γ-herpesviruses include the closely related tumor viruses Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). EBV is the most growth-transforming pathogen known and is linked to at least seven human malignancies. KSHV is also associated with three human cancers. Most EBV- and KSHV-infected individuals fortunately remain disease-free despite persistent infection and this is likely due to the robustness of the immune control that they mount against these tumor viruses. However, upon immune suppression EBV- and KSHV-associated malignancies emerge at increased frequencies. Moreover, primary immunodeficiencies with individual mutations that predispose to EBV or KSHV disease allow us to gain insights into a catalog of molecules that are required for the immune control of these tumor viruses. Curiously, there is little overlap between the mutation targets that predispose individuals to EBV versus KSHV disease, even so both viruses can infect the same host cell, human B cells. These differences will be discussed in this review. A better understanding of the crucial components in the near-perfect life-long immune control of EBV and KSHV should allow us to target malignancies that are associated with these viruses, but also induce similar immune responses against other tumors.
Topics: Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Herpesviridae; Herpesvirus 4, Human; Herpesvirus 8, Human; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Immunocompetence; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes; Neoplasms; Oncogenic Viruses
PubMed: 30649299
DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuy044 -
Science Progress 2001Allergy, auto immunity and cancer are becoming more prevalent in the developed world. One explanation might be that the immune system required to protect us from such...
Allergy, auto immunity and cancer are becoming more prevalent in the developed world. One explanation might be that the immune system required to protect us from such problems is being inadequately trained, perhaps due to our increased separation from the environment which has shaped our mutating genes since we emerged from the primaeval ooze. Those infections which were the essential primers of our immunity are being prevented and action is needed to refocus the immune response without exposing us to the diseases of the past. In this paper we assess our place in relation to the environment and consider ways in which the situation can be redressed. There are considerable similarities between the immune system and human consciousness. Both enter the world in considerable ignorance of the events awaiting them, yet with the genetic ability, endowed by millennia of selection and evolution, to experience the world, to interpret and act on the experiences and to retain memory of the experiences. In both systems, maternal influences and early environmental encounters have profound effects on determining the patterns of subsequent responses. Ideally the 'learned' responses will benefit or protect the individual but inappropriate responses may lead to self damage. As the environment has altered irrevocably, attention must be paid to regulating the balance of immunological responsiveness to that expected of the normal immunological learning process. This should be possible by novel vaccination strategies.
Topics: Autoimmune Diseases; Biological Evolution; Environmental Exposure; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Immunocompetence; Infections; Neoplasms; Th2 Cells
PubMed: 11525013
DOI: 10.3184/003685001783239014 -
The Netherlands Journal of Medicine Aug 2018We here report on two immunocompetent patients admitted to our hospital within 3 weeks' time, both suffering from pneumonia caused by Legionella longbeachae (L.... (Review)
Review
We here report on two immunocompetent patients admitted to our hospital within 3 weeks' time, both suffering from pneumonia caused by Legionella longbeachae (L. longbeachae). The pathogen was identified in broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) liquid by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), whereas sputum cultures remained negative. This organism is worldwide still relatively unknown and consequently underdiagnosed. However, with an increasing number of confirmed infections in Europe and more specifically in the Netherlands, early awareness and diagnostic measurements are indicated. As routine laboratory techniques like the urine antigen test do not detect L. longbeachae, we advocate early use of specific tests for non-pneumophila Legionella species such as PCR. Furthermore, we advocate the start of empirical antibiotic therapy (i.e. ciprofloxacin) and continuation in suspected cases.
Topics: Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Blood Gas Analysis; DNA, Bacterial; Disease Progression; Humans; Immunocompetence; Incidence; Intensive Care Units; Legionella longbeachae; Legionellosis; Male; Netherlands; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Risk Assessment; Severity of Illness Index; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 30152395
DOI: No ID Found -
The Journal of Nutrition Mar 2007The immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents that exist in the environment and from other noxious insults. It is constantly active, acting to... (Review)
Review
The immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents that exist in the environment and from other noxious insults. It is constantly active, acting to discriminate "nonself" from "self." The immune system has 2 functional divisions: the innate and the acquired. Both involve various blood-borne factors and cells. A number of methodologies exist to assess aspects of immune function; many of these rely on studying cells in culture ex vivo. There are large interindividual variations in many immune functions even among the healthy. Many factors, including genetics, gender, age, nutrient status, and gut flora, contribute to the observed variation. Individuals with immune responses significantly below "normal" are more susceptible to infectious agents and exhibit increased infectious morbidity and mortality. However, it is not clear how the variation in immune function among healthy individuals relates to variation in susceptibility to infection.
Topics: Humans; Immune System; Immunocompetence; Infections
PubMed: 17311974
DOI: 10.1093/jn/137.3.773S -
Nature Plants Sep 2023Although many studies have shown that microbes can ectopically stimulate or suppress plant immune responses, the fundamental question of whether the entire preexisting...
Although many studies have shown that microbes can ectopically stimulate or suppress plant immune responses, the fundamental question of whether the entire preexisting microbiota is indeed required for proper development of plant immune response remains unanswered. Using a recently developed peat-based gnotobiotic plant growth system, we found that Arabidopsis grown in the absence of a natural microbiota lacked age-dependent maturation of plant immune response and were defective in several aspects of pattern-triggered immunity. Axenic plants exhibited hypersusceptibility to infection by the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Microbiota-mediated immunocompetence was suppressed by rich nutrient conditions, indicating a tripartite interaction between the host, microbiota and abiotic environment. A synthetic microbiota composed of 48 culturable bacterial strains from the leaf endosphere of healthy Arabidopsis plants was able to substantially restore immunocompetence similar to plants inoculated with a soil-derived community. In contrast, a 52-member dysbiotic synthetic leaf microbiota overstimulated the immune transcriptome. Together, these results provide evidence for a causal role of a eubiotic microbiota in gating proper immunocompetence and age-dependent immunity in plants.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Health Status; Immunocompetence; Innate Immunity Recognition; Microbiota; Soil
PubMed: 37591928
DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01501-1