An early post-birth immune-microbiota landscape predicts the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in term newborns with congenital heart defects.

ABSTRACT: The pathogenesis of NEC in term infants with critical congenital heart defects (CHD) is mainly associated with hypoxic-ischemic events that initiate an exaggerated systemic inflammatory response. Herein, we investigated the cumulative impact of the cytokine landscape and gut microbiota on the pathobiology leading to NEC onset in term newborns with CHD. This study involved 36 newborns who underwent surgical correction of CHD during the first two weeks of life; eight of them developed NEC within one week after cardiac surgery. Blood and fecal samples were collected at two time points: before and after surgery. Newborns without NEC exhibited significant changes in the levels of 22 cytokines, whereas newborns with NEC had changes in only 4 cytokines during the perioperative period. A panel inc

SUBMITTER: Zaikova E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12484952 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature