Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, 94143, USA.
Department of Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, 94143, USA.
Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 8;12(1):132. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20475-8.
The use of pesticides to reduce mosquito vector populations is a cornerstone of global malaria control efforts, but the biological impact of most pesticides on human populations, including pregnant women and infants, is not known. Some pesticides, including carbamates, have been shown to perturb the human immune system. We measure the systemic absorption and immunologic effects of bendiocarb, a commonly used carbamate pesticide, following household spraying in a cohort of pregnant Ugandan women and their infants. We find that bendiocarb is present at high levels in maternal, umbilical cord, and infant plasma of individuals exposed during pregnancy, indicating that it is systemically absorbed and trans-placentally transferred to the fetus. Moreover, bendiocarb exposure is associated with numerous changes in fetal immune cell homeostasis and function, including a dose-dependent decrease in regulatory CD4 T cells, increased cytokine production, and inhibition of antigen-driven proliferation. Additionally, prenatal bendiocarb exposure is associated with higher post-vaccination measles titers at one year of age, suggesting that its impact on functional immunity may persist for many months after birth. These data indicate that in utero bendiocarb exposure has multiple previously unrecognized biological effects on the fetal immune system.
使用杀虫剂来降低蚊虫媒介种群是全球疟疾控制工作的基石，但大多数杀虫剂对包括孕妇和婴儿在内的人类群体的生物学影响尚不清楚。一些杀虫剂，包括氨基甲酸酯类，已被证明会扰乱人体免疫系统。我们在乌干达孕妇及其婴儿的队列中，测量了家用喷雾后苯氧威（一种常用的氨基甲酸酯类杀虫剂）的全身吸收和免疫效应。我们发现，孕期接触苯氧威的个体的母体、脐带和婴儿血浆中都存在高水平的苯氧威，表明它被全身吸收并经胎盘转移到胎儿。此外，苯氧威暴露与胎儿免疫细胞稳态和功能的多种变化有关，包括调节性 CD4 T 细胞的剂量依赖性下降、细胞因子产生增加以及抗原驱动的增殖抑制。此外，产前苯氧威暴露与一岁时麻疹疫苗接种后更高的滴度相关，这表明其对功能性免疫的影响在出生后数月内可能持续存在。这些数据表明，宫内苯氧威暴露对胎儿免疫系统有多种以前未被认识到的生物学影响。
