Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Immunol Invest. 2012;41(3):304-16. doi: 10.3109/08820139.2011.631657. Epub 2011 Nov 28.
Perinatal lambs are increasingly appreciated as a model to study respiratory infections of premature and newborn human infants. To explore the relationship between developmental age and immunological competence in the respiratory tract, the basal levels of expression of genes involved in innate and adaptive immune functions in the lung were examined in pre-term lambs (115 days and 130 days), at birth (145 days) and post-partum (15 days and 3 years old). Our results show that innate immune genes (TLRs-3, -4, -7, -8; SP-A, SP-D, and SBD1) were differentially expressed through development; cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-6, TNF-α) and chemokines (IL-8, MCP-1) were low during gestation and post-partum but maximal at birth; genes involved in adaptive immunity (PD-1, PD-L1, TGF-β) were present in pre-term and newborn lung, but were lower in adult lung. The results suggest that pre-term and neonatal lambs may be able to mount an immune response following infection, but that the response may not be optimal. Our studies provide an important set of comparative data on the ontogeny of lung immunity in sheep and set a framework for studies on age-dependent susceptibility to respiratory pathogens.
围产期羔羊越来越被认为是研究早产儿和新生儿人类呼吸道感染的模型。为了探索发育年龄与呼吸道免疫功能之间的关系，本研究检测了早产羔羊（115 天和 130 天）、出生时（145 天）和产后（15 天和 3 岁）肺内固有和适应性免疫功能相关基因的基础表达水平。我们的结果表明，固有免疫基因（TLR-3、-4、-7、-8；SP-A、SP-D 和 SBD1）在发育过程中差异表达；细胞因子（IFN-γ、IL-6、TNF-α）和趋化因子（IL-8、MCP-1）在妊娠期和产后较低，但在出生时最高；适应性免疫相关基因（PD-1、PD-L1、TGF-β）存在于早产和新生羔羊的肺中，但在成年肺中较低。这些结果表明，早产和新生羔羊在感染后可能能够引发免疫反应，但反应可能并不最佳。本研究为绵羊肺免疫的个体发育提供了一组重要的比较数据，并为研究年龄相关的呼吸道病原体易感性奠定了基础。
