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Prenatal undernutrition, postnatal environments, and antibody response to vaccination in adolescence
T W McDade1, M A Beck, C Kuzawa
1Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. t-mcdade@northwestern.edu
Insights
Prenatal undernutrition is linked to reduced immunocompetence in adolescence, impacting antibody response. Early life nutrition significantly influences long-term immune function and infectious disease risk.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Immunology
- Public health
Background:
- Early life events are increasingly linked to adult cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
- The impact of fetal and infant development on immune function and infectious disease susceptibility remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between prenatal undernutrition and adolescent immunocompetence.
- To test the hypothesis that intrauterine growth retardation correlates with a diminished antibody response later in life.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study recruited 103 adolescents (14-15 years old) with data collection starting in utero.
- Immunocompetence was assessed by measuring anti-typhoid antibody response after typhoid vaccination.
- The likelihood of an adequate antibody response was compared between small-for-gestational-age and appropriate-for-gestational-age adolescents, controlling for postnatal factors.
Main Results:
- Adolescents experiencing prenatal undernutrition showed a lower probability (0.32) of mounting an adequate antibody response compared to adequately nourished peers (0.49-0.70).
- Early-life diarrhea and rapid weight gain in the first six months were associated with an increased probability of a positive antibody response.
Conclusions:
- Early life nutrition and environmental factors play a crucial role in programming long-term immune system function.
- Findings suggest that prenatal and early infant environments have lasting implications for immunocompetence and infectious disease risk, especially in developing nations.
Background:
Recently, researchers have considered the fetal and infant origins of several adult cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but the implications of early events for immune function and infectious disease are unclear.
Objective:
We investigated the association between prenatal undernutrition and immunocompetence in adolescence and hypothesized that intrauterine growth retardation is associated with a lower likelihood of mounting an adequate antibody response later in life.
Design:
A subsample of one hundred three 14-15-y-olds was recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study in which data collection began while participants were in utero. A typhoid vaccine was given, and anti-typhoid antibodies were measured 2 wk and 3 mo later as a functional marker of immunocompetence. The likelihood of mounting an adequate antibody response was compared for adolescents who were small for gestational age or appropriate for gestational age at birth while controlling for a range of postnatal exposures.
Results:
The predicted probability of mounting a positive antibody response for adolescents who were prenatally and currently undernourished was 0.32, compared with probabilities of 0.49-0.70 for adequately nourished adolescents (P = 0.023). Diarrhea in the first year of life (P = 0.009) and fast weight gain during the first 6 mo (P = 0.003) were also associated with a higher probability of response.
Conclusions:
These findings extend the concept of fetal and early infant programming of adult diseases to the immune system and suggest that early environments may have long-term implications for immunocompetence and infectious disease risk, particularly in developing countries.