Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60201, USA.
Am J Hum Biol. 2012 Jul-Aug;24(4):446-53. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22244. Epub 2012 Feb 5.
Infancy represents a window of development during which long-term immunological functioning can be influenced. In this study, we evaluate proxies of microbial exposures in infancy as predictors of interleukin-4 (IL-4) in young adulthood. IL-4 is an immunoregulatory cytokine that plays a role in the pathogenesis of atopic and allergic diseases.
Data were obtained from 1,403 participants in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, an ongoing population-based study in the Philippines. Relationships between microbial and nutritional environments in infancy and plasma IL-4 concentrations in adulthood were evaluated using tobit regression models.
Having older siblings and more episodes of respiratory illness in infancy significantly predicted lower concentrations of plasma IL-4 in adulthood. Unexpectedly, more episodes of diarrheal illness in infancy were associated with higher IL-4 in adulthood. Interactions between a composite household pathogen exposure score and the duration of exclusive breastfeeding approached significance. This interaction showed that the negative association between household pathogen exposure in infancy and adult IL-4 was only significant for individuals who had been exclusively breastfed for a short duration of time. Finally, currently living in an urban household was unexpectedly, negatively associated with adult IL-4. Associations were independent of early nutrition, socioeconomic status (SES), and urbanicity, as well as current measures of infection, body fat, SES, and smoking.
This study builds on a growing body of literature demonstrating that early ecological conditions have long-term effects on human biology by providing evidence that multiple proxies of microbial exposures in infancy are associated with adult IL-4.
婴儿期是一个发展窗口，在此期间，长期的免疫功能可能会受到影响。本研究评估了婴儿期微生物暴露的替代指标，作为成年后白细胞介素-4（IL-4）的预测因子。IL-4 是一种免疫调节细胞因子，在特应性和过敏性疾病的发病机制中发挥作用。
数据来自菲律宾正在进行的基于人群的宿务纵向健康和营养调查的 1403 名参与者。使用 Tobit 回归模型评估婴儿期微生物和营养环境与成年期血浆 IL-4 浓度之间的关系。
婴儿期有年长的兄弟姐妹和更多的呼吸道疾病发作显著预测了成年期血浆 IL-4 浓度较低。出乎意料的是，婴儿期腹泻次数较多与成年期 IL-4 较高有关。家庭病原体暴露评分与纯母乳喂养时间的复合交互作用接近显著。这种相互作用表明，婴儿期家庭病原体暴露与成年期 IL-4 之间的负相关仅在纯母乳喂养时间较短的个体中具有统计学意义。最后，目前居住在城市家庭中与成年期 IL-4 呈负相关。这些关联独立于早期营养、社会经济地位（SES）和城市化程度，以及当前的感染、体脂、SES 和吸烟状况的测量。
本研究通过提供证据表明，婴儿期多种微生物暴露的替代指标与成年后白细胞介素-4 有关，这是一项关于早期生态条件对人类生物学具有长期影响的不断增长的文献的补充。
