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Early life exposure to dietary and inhalant allergens
Gillian H S Vance1, Judith A Holloway
1Department of Child Health, Infection, Inflammation and Repair Division, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. ghsv@soton.ac.uk
Abstract:
Increasing evidence points to early life, including fetal life, as being a critical time period during which the infant's allergic fate may be determined. However, initial antigen priming in utero necessitates fetal exposure to maternally derived allergen. This article reviews our current knowledge regarding materno-fetal allergen transfer in vivo and reflects on mechanisms by which this exposure might exert immunomodulatory influences on the developing immune system.