Prenatal and postnatal cadmium exposure and cellular immune responses among pre-school children

• Published in: Environment international Vol. 134; p. 105282
• Main Authors: Zeng, Qiang, Zhang, Wen-Xin, Zheng, Tong-Zhang, Zhou, Bin, Li, Ju-Xiao, Zhang, Bin, Xia, Wei, Li, Yuan-Yuan, Xu, Shun-Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Cadmium; Cellular immune responses; Cytokines; Exposure; T lymphocyte subsets; Cellular immune responses; Cadmium; Exposure; Cytokines; T lymphocyte subsets
• ISSN: 0160-4120; 1873-6750
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105282

•Associations between cadmium exposure and cellular immune responses were examined.•Prenatal cadmium exposure was associated with reduced T lymphocyte subsets and increased Th2 cytokines.•The effects of prenatal cadmium exposure on cellular immune responses primarily occurred in females.•No clear associations between children’s concurrent cadmium exposure and cellular immune responses were observed. Experimental studies have demonstrated that cadmium exposure induces alterations on immune function, but epidemiological evidence is lacking. To examine the associations between prenatal and postnatal cadmium exposure and cellular immune responses among pre-school children. Pre-school aged children (n = 407) were followed from a prospective birth cohort study in Wuhan, China. Maternal urinary and children’s plasma cadmium concentrations were measured as biomarkers of prenatal and postnatal cadmium exposure, respectively. Children’s cellular immune responses were assessed by peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets and plasma cytokines. Multivariable adjusted models were applied to estimate the associations of prenatal and postnatal cadmium exposure with T lymphocyte subsets and cytokines, and the effect modification by child gender were also examined. Maternal urinary cadmium was associated with reduced absolute counts of CD3+CD4+ cells (−12.45%; 95% CI: −23.74%, 0.40% for the highest vs. lowest quartile; p for trend = 0.045). Inverse associations of maternal urinary cadmium with %CD3+CD4+ cells and CD4+/CD8+ ratio were only observed among females (both p-interaction < 0.050); whereas an inverse association with absolute counts of CD3+CD8+ cells was only observed among males (p-interaction = 0.057). Positive associations of maternal urinary cadmium with %CD3+CD4+ cells, interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-6 were only observed among females, although there were no significant interactions. We observed no clear associations of children’s plasma cadmium with T lymphocyte subsets and cytokines. Prenatal but not postnatal cadmium exposure was associated with sex-specific alterations on children’s cellular immune responses.