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Noninvasive Sampling of Mucosal Lining Fluid for the Quantification of In Vivo Upper Airway Immune-mediator Levels
Published on: August 7, 2017
Early Microbial-Immune Interactions and Innate Immune Training of the Respiratory System during Health and Disease
Gustavo Nino1, Carlos E Rodriguez-Martinez2,3, Maria J Gutierrez4
1Division of Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, Children's National Hospital, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Insights
Early microbial exposures in infancy train the innate immune system, influencing susceptibility to respiratory diseases like asthma. Further research is needed to understand these critical early-life microbial-immune interactions.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Microbiology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Early-life microbial exposure is crucial for immune system development and respiratory health.
- Neonatal microbial colonization is linked to respiratory infections and childhood asthma.
- Mechanistic insights reveal how early viral and bacterial exposures impact immune development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current understanding of early microbial-immune interactions in infancy.
- To focus on the paradigm of innate immune training in the respiratory system.
- To highlight the need for future human-based studies on early immune development.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on early-life microbial exposure and respiratory health.
- Analysis of translational studies on microbial-immune interactions.
- Synthesis of findings on innate immune training during infancy.
Main Results:
- Established link between neonatal microbial colonization and respiratory disease risk.
- Identified mechanistic pathways for microbial impact on immune development.
- Highlighted the concept of innate immune training in early life.
Conclusions:
- Early microbial exposures significantly shape innate immune responses in the airway.
- Understanding these interactions is key to preventing respiratory diseases.
- Further infant studies are essential to elucidate immune training pathways and modulation by microbiota and viruses.
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, several studies have positioned early-life microbial exposure as a key factor for protection or susceptibility to respiratory diseases. Birth cohorts have identified a strong link between neonatal bacterial colonization of the nasal airway and gut with the risk for respiratory infections and childhood asthma. Translational studies have provided companion mechanistic insights on how viral and bacterial exposures in early life affect immune development at the respiratory mucosal barrier. In this review, we summarize and discuss our current understanding of how early microbial-immune interactions occur during infancy, with a particular focus on the emergent paradigm of "innate immune training". Future human-based studies including newborns and infants are needed to inform the timing and key pathways implicated in the development, maturation, and innate training of the airway immune response, and how early microbiota and virus exposures modulate these processes in the respiratory system during health and disease.
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