Infants' Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Composition Reflects Both Maternal and Post-Natal Infection with Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Maternal parasitoses modulate fetal immune development, manifesting as altered cellular immunological activity in cord blood that may be linked to enhanced susceptibility to infections in early life. Plasmodium falciparum typifies such infections, with distinct placental infection-related changes in cord blood exemplified by expanded populations of parasite antigen-specific regulatory T cells. Here we addressed whether such early-onset cellular immunological alterations persist through infancy. Specifically, in order to assess the potential impacts of P. falciparum infections either during pregnancy or during infancy, we quantified lymphocyte subsets in cord blood and in infants' peripheral blood during the first year of life. The principal age-related changes observed, independent of infe

SUBMITTER: Nouatin O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4651557 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature