ArticleCytokine2021
Ontogeny of plasma cytokine and chemokine concentrations across the first week of human life.
Article in Cytokine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Probiotic supplementation is associated with higher faecal secretory IgA (sIgA) in healthy full-term infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pediatric research · 2026Pooled it
- An early post-birth immune-microbiota landscape predicts the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in term newborns with congenital heart defects.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Meta-cohort study protocol using systems biology to identify vaccine safety biomarkers.Vaccine · 2025Article
- Oxidative phosphorylation is a key feature of neonatal monocyte immunometabolism promoting myeloid differentiation after birth.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Modulating cytokine microenvironment during T cell activation induces protective RSV-specific lung resident memory T cells in early life in mice.Npj viruses · 2024Article
- Differences in mid-gestational and early postnatal neonatal cytokines and chemokines are associated with patterns of maternal autoantibodies in the context of autism.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Effective early antiretroviral therapy in perinatal-HIV infection reduces subsequent plasma inflammatory profile.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- Molecular Determinants of the Early Life Immune Response to COVID-19 Infection and Immunization.Vaccines · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND &
aimsEarly life is marked by distinct and rapidly evolving immunity and increased susceptibility to infection. The vulnerability of the newborn reflects development of a complex immune system in the face of rapidly changing demands during the transition to extra-uterine life. Cytokines and chemokines contribute to this dynamic immune signaling network and can be altered by many factors, such as infection. Newborns undergo dynamic changes important to health and disease, yet there is limited information regarding human neonatal plasma cytokine and chemokine concentrations over the first week of life. The few available studies are limited by small sample size, cross-sectional study design, or focus on perturbed host states like severe infection or prematurity. To characterize immune ontogeny among healthy full-term newborns, we assessed plasma cytokine and chemokine concentrations across the first week of life in a robust longitudinal cohort of healthy, full-term African newborns.
methodsWe analyzed a subgroup of a cohort of healthy newborns at the Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia (West Africa; N = 608). Peripheral blood plasma was collected from all study participants at birth (day of life (DOL) 0) and at one follow-up time point at DOL 1, 3, or 7. Plasma cytokine and chemokine concentrations were measured by bead-based cytokine multiplex assay. Unsupervised clustering was used to identify patterns in plasma cytokine and chemokine ontogeny during early life.
resultsWe observed an increase across the first week of life in plasma Th1 cytokines such as IFNγ and CXCL10 and a decrease in Th2 and anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-10, and chemokines such as CXCL8. In contrast, other cytokines and chemokines (e.g. IL-4 and CCL5, respectively) remained unchanged during the first week of life. This robust ontogenetic pattern did not appear to be affected by gestational age or sex.
conclusionsOntogeny is a strong driver of newborn plasma-based levels of cytokines and chemokines throughout the first week of life with a rising IFNγ axis suggesting post-natal upregulation of host defense pathways. Our study will prove useful to the design and interpretation of future studies aimed at understanding the neonatal immune system during health and disease.
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