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Published on: August 7, 2017
Duration of allergic susceptibility in maternal transmission of asthma risk
Alexey V Fedulov1, Adriana S Leme, Lester Kobzik
1Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. afedulov@hsph.harvard.edu
Problem:
Asthma has its origins in early-life. Maternal, not paternal asthma is an important risk factor, but the mechanisms and the duration of the maternal effect are unknown.
Method Of Study:
Offspring of asthmatic and normal mice were sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) at 1, 3, 6 and 10 weeks of age, challenged with aerosolized OVA 2 weeks later and tested for airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and allergic airway inflammation (AI).
Results:
Offspring of asthmatic, but not normal, mothers showed AHR and AI after OVA sensitization at week 1. Similarly increased susceptibility to OVA was observed when sensitized at 3 or 6 weeks, although the magnitude diminished. Offspring sensitized at 10 and challenged at 12 weeks showed some AI but no AHR.
Conclusion:
In offspring from asthmatic mothers increased allergic susceptibility persisted through the young adulthood, albeit with gradual decline, which suggests a long-lived but reversible skewing of the developing immune system.
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