Basic and clinical immunologyAssociations of cord blood fatty acids with lymphocyte proliferation, IL-13, and IFN-γ
Section snippets
Subjects
Subjects for this study were a subgroup of participants from Project Viva, a pregnancy and birth cohort study underway in eastern Massachusetts. Enrollment for this study occurred from April 1999 through July 2002. Expectant mothers were approached at their initial prenatal visit for consent. Participants were interviewed and completed questionnaires in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, as well as at the time of delivery. Umbilical venous cord blood was obtained at the time of
Results
In this population the gestational age ranged from 30.9 to 42.1 weeks (Table I). Maternal smoking was rare. Of the mothers, 11% were obese, with a BMI of greater than 30 kg/m2. Maternal obesity was associated with lower n-3 EPA levels in cord plasma. The median cord EPA level was 0.86 percentage points for children of mothers with a BMI of greater than 30 kg/m2 compared with a median level of 0.97 percentage points for children of mothers with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or less. Only 6 of 192 children
Discussion
In this US birth cohort study, we found that both higher levels of cord blood n-3 EPA and n-6 AA were associated with attenuation of cord blood lymphocyte proliferation and decreased IFN-γ secretion in response to allergen stimulation. The evidence for independent effects of both EPA and AA on attenuated immune responses was stronger for IFN-γ than for SI (lymphoproliferative response). Although n-3 EPA and n-6 AA had similar inverse associations with SI and IFN-γ, the ratio of AA/EPA also
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Supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 HL61907, HD34568, HL64925, HL68041, and AI/EHS35786.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: M. Gillman has received grant support from Mead Johnson Nutritionals. No Conflict of Interest disclosure statement was received from C. Schroeter. The rest of the authors have declared they have no conflict of interest.