A Th1/Th2-associated chemokine imbalance preceding allergic disease is influenced by birth size, breastfeeding, daycare and probiotics

This study presents results of the prevention of allergy study in high-risk infants for a new type of immunology markers for development of allergy, so called chemokines. (See other results of this study summarised in this document for the papers by Abrahamsson 2007, 2009 and Böttcher 2008). Chemokines are a type of proteins produced by different immune cells, and their receptors are expressed on the surface of several cell types involved in allergic inflammation. Analyses of circulating chemokines in the blood offer new tools to investigate the Th1/ Th2 imbalance in allergic disease in vivo. In this study different pre- and postnatal environmental factors, including the supplementation of L. reuteri ATCC 55730, and their association to the expression of different chemokines were analysed in infants at birth (cord blood), and at 6, 12 and 24 months. The presence of L. reuteri in infant stool in the first week of life was associated with low levels of the Th2-type chemokines CCL17 and CCL22 and high levels of the Th1-type chemokine CXCL11, at six months of age. This suggests a more rapid maturation of the immune system after birth, counteracting the Th2-deviation at birth. Of several chemokines analysed, only CCL22 (elevated levels) and CXCL11 (decreased levels) were associated with sensitisation to allergens.

Conclusion:

The results imply that the previously shown effect of L. reuteri on decreasing the risk of sensitisation in these infants may act through a mechanism involving the chemokines CCL22 and CXCL11.

Reference

Abrahamsson T, Sandberg M, Forsberg A, Björkstén B, Jenmalm M. (2009) A Th1/Th2-associated chemokine imbalance preceding allergic disease is influenced by birth size, breastfeeding, daycare and probiotics. Presented at the XXVIII EAACI Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Warsaw, Poland, June 6-10, 2009. Allergy 64 (Suppl. 90):56, abstract 116