Exposure to a farm environment is associated with T helper 1 and regulatory cytokines at age 4.5 years
Summary Background Farm exposure has been shown to protect from childhood asthma and allergic diseases, but underlying immunological mechanisms are not clear yet. Objective To explore whether farming lifestyle determines cytokine profile of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 4.5‐year‐old...
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Published in | Clinical and experimental allergy Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 71 - 77 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.01.2016
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Summary
Background
Farm exposure has been shown to protect from childhood asthma and allergic diseases, but underlying immunological mechanisms are not clear yet.
Objective
To explore whether farming lifestyle determines cytokine profile of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 4.5‐year‐old children (n = 88) from the Finnish PASTURE birth cohort study.
Methods
We analysed regulatory (IL‐10, IL‐2), T helper 1 (Th1)‐associated (IL‐12, IFN‐γ), inflammatory (IL‐1β, TNF, CXCL8) and Th2‐associated (IL‐13) cytokines in unstimulated PBMCs and after a short‐term (5 h) stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Specific farm exposures (stables, hay barn, farm milk) at age 4 years were assessed from questionnaires.
Results
The unstimulated PBMCs of farm children produced more IL‐10 (GMR 1.22, P = 0.032), IL‐12 (GMR 1.24, P = 0.012) and IFN‐γ (GMR 1.24, P = 0.024) than those of non‐farm children. Also, specific farm exposures were associated with higher spontaneous production of cytokines. The number of specific farm exposures tended to be dose dependently associated with higher spontaneous production of IFN‐γ (test for trends, P = 0.013) and lower LPS‐induced production of TNF (test for trends, P = 0.025).
Conclusion and Clinical Relevance
Farming lifestyle seemed to be associated with increased spontaneous production of Th1 and regulatory cytokines. Decreased TNF responses to short‐term LPS stimulation in farm‐exposed children may imply tolerogenic immune mechanisms. These novel findings might contribute to the asthma and allergy protection in farm environment. |
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Bibliography: | Table S1. The distribution of the studied cytokines. Table S2. Numbers and percentages of basic characteristics in the studied children of non-farmers and farmers. Table S3. Correlations of the studied cytokines. Table S4. The association of specific farm exposures with the spontaneous production of cytokines at age 4.5 years (n = 88). Table S5. The association of specific farm exposures with the LPS-induced production of cytokines at age 4.5 years (n = 88). European Commission as part of EFRAIM (Mechanisms of early protective exposures on allergy development) - No. 211911 ark:/67375/WNG-183SFQJZ-K ArticleID:CEA12636 OLVI-Foundation Farmers′Social Insurance Institution istex:96DF29EB96A3EFE61CF7C5AE4BF75F023F317D9A Academy of Finland - No. 132393; No. 256375 EVO-funding HES-Foundation ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0954-7894 1365-2222 |
DOI: | 10.1111/cea.12636 |