Duramad Paurene, Tager Ira B, Holland Nina T
Children's Environmental Health Center, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA.
Toxicol Lett. 2007 Jul 30;172(1-2):48-59. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2007.05.017. Epub 2007 May 25.
Environmental exposures (e.g. pesticides, air pollution, and environmental tobacco smoke) during prenatal and early postnatal development have been linked to a growing number of childhood diseases including allergic disorders and leukemia. Because the immune response plays a critical role in each of these diseases, it is important to study the effects of toxicants on the developing immune system. Children's unique susceptibility to environmental toxicants has become an important focus of the field of immunotoxicology and the use of immune biomarkers in molecular epidemiology of children's environmental health is a rapidly expanding field of research. In this review, we discuss how markers of immune status and immunotoxicity are being applied to pediatric studies, with a specific focus on the various methods used to analyze T-helper-1/2 (Th1/Th2) cytokine profiles. Furthermore, we review recent data on the effects of children's environmental exposures to volatile organic compounds, metals, and pesticides on Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles and the associations of Th1/Th2 profiles with adverse health outcomes such as pediatric respiratory diseases, allergies, cancer and diabetes. Although cytokine profiles are increasingly used in children's studies, there is still a need to acquire distribution data for different ages and ethnic groups of healthy children. These data will contribute to the validation and standardization of cytokine biomarkers for future studies. Application of immunological markers in epidemiological studies will improve the understanding of mechanisms that underlie associations between environmental exposures and immune-mediated disorders.
产前和产后早期发育期间的环境暴露（如农药、空气污染和环境烟草烟雾）已与越来越多的儿童疾病相关联，包括过敏性疾病和白血病。由于免疫反应在这些疾病中均起着关键作用，因此研究毒物对发育中的免疫系统的影响非常重要。儿童对环境毒物的独特易感性已成为免疫毒理学领域的一个重要研究重点，并且在儿童环境健康分子流行病学中使用免疫生物标志物是一个迅速发展的研究领域。在本综述中，我们讨论了免疫状态和免疫毒性标志物如何应用于儿科研究，特别关注用于分析辅助性T细胞1/2（Th1/Th2）细胞因子谱的各种方法。此外，我们综述了有关儿童环境暴露于挥发性有机化合物、金属和农药对Th1/Th2细胞因子谱的影响以及Th1/Th2谱与诸如儿童呼吸道疾病、过敏、癌症和糖尿病等不良健康结局之间关联的最新数据。尽管细胞因子谱越来越多地用于儿童研究，但仍需要获取不同年龄和种族健康儿童的分布数据。这些数据将有助于未来研究中细胞因子生物标志物的验证和标准化。免疫标志物在流行病学研究中的应用将增进对环境暴露与免疫介导疾病之间关联的潜在机制的理解。
