ArticleClinical and experimental immunology2008
Longitudinal analysis of immune function in the first 3 years of life in thymectomized neonates during cardiac surgery.
Article in Clinical and experimental immunology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Thymectomy Is Associated With Long-Term Impairment of the Immune System: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Long-term immunological impairment after early thymectomy in congenital heart disease.Immunologic research · 2026Article
- Sustained Effector Functions and Memory Accumulation of αβ T Cells in Children With Congenital Heart Disease.European journal of immunology · 2026Article
- Early-life thymectomy results in visceral adipose tissue inflammation and glucose intolerance.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2025Article
- Early-life thymectomy leads to an increase of granzyme-producing γδ T cells in children with congenital heart disease.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Effects of antibiotics, hospitalisation and surgical complications on self-reported immunological vulnerability following paediatric open-heart surgery and thymectomy: a single-centre retrospective cohort study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Article
- In utero priming of fetal immune activation: Myths and mechanisms.Journal of reproductive immunology · 2023Review
- Immunity and inflammation: the neglected key players in congenital heart disease?Heart failure reviews · 2022Review
- T Cell Response to Influenza Vaccination Remains Intact in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Who Underwent Early Thymectomy.International journal of cardiology. Congenital heart disease · 2022Article
- Immunopathogenesis of patients with COVID-19: from the perspective of immune system 'evolution' and 'revolution'.Expert reviews in molecular medicine · 2022Review
- Considerations of CD8Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- When Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) with T Cell Receptor Excision Circles Is Not SCID: a Case-Based Review.Journal of clinical immunology · 2021Review
- The immune system in infants: Relevance to xenotransplantation.Pediatric transplantation · 2020Review
- Mechanisms of Fetal T Cell Tolerance and Immune Regulation.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- Article
- The Role of the Thymus in the Immune Response.Thoracic surgery clinics · 2019Review
- Review
- The significance of neonatal thymectomy for shaping the immune system in children with congenital heart defects.Kardiochirurgia i torakochirurgia polska = Polish journal of cardio-thoracic surgery · 2017Review
- Human neonatal thymectomy induces altered B-cell responses and autoreactivity.European journal of immunology · 2017Article
- Autoimmunity and allergy control in adults submitted to complete thymectomy early in infancy.PloS one · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of neonatal thymectomy in the functional capacity of the immune system. We selected a group of 23 subjects, who had undergone thymectomy in their first 30 days of life, during an intervention for congenital heart disease. Several parameters of the immune system were evaluated during their first 3 years of life. Lymphocyte populations and subpopulations (including naive, memory and effector subpopulations), T cell receptor (TCR) Vbeta repertoire, response of T cells following in vitro stimulation by mitogen, quantification of immunoglobulins, TCR excision circles (TRECS) and interleukin (IL)-7 were measured. We found that neonatal thymectomy produces long-term diminution in total lymphocyte counts, especially in naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Additionally, TRECS were decreased, and plasma IL-7 levels increased. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between absolute CD4+ T cells and IL-7 (r = -0.470, P = 0.02). The patients did not suffer more infectious events than healthy control children, but thymectomy in neonates resulted in a significant decrease in T lymphocyte levels and TRECS, consistent with cessation of thymopoiesis. This could produce a compromise in immune function later in life, especially if the patients suffer T cell depletion and need a reconstitution of immune function.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.