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JACI Highlights - April 2006
Ege / Bieli et al – Prenatal farm exposure is related to the expression of receptors of the innate immunity and to atopic sensitization in school-age children
There is increasing evidence that environmental exposures determining childhood illness operate early in life. Environmental exposures implicated in the inception of these illnesses must therefore occur even earlier. The temporal sequence of events may be traced back to prenatal exposures, namely exposures of the mother. While it has been shown that adaptive immune responses can be shaped in utero, little is known about potential prenatal determinants of the innate immune response and its relation to the development of asthma and allergy. In the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Dr. Ege, Dr. Bieli and colleagues investigate the role of exposures of the mother and the child to environments rich in microbial compounds for the development of atopic sensitization, asthma, and corresponding alterations in the innate immune system in the offspring. The study found that maternal exposure to an environment rich in microbial compounds determine the priming of a child's immune system and may protect from the development of atopic sensitization. They identify that farm milk and stable animal contact can be protective for asthma and seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis. In clinical environments, when assessing risk factors of allergies in an infant's medical history, attention must also be paid to environmental exposures affecting the mother.
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