Differences in multiple immune parameters between Indian and U.S. infants

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 11; p. e0207297
• Main Authors: Rathore, Deepak K, Holmes, Tyson H, Nadeau, Kari C, Mittal, Pratima, Batra, Achla, Rosenberg-Hasson, Yael, Sopory, Shailaja, Gupta, Rohit, Chellani, Harish K, Aggarwal, Kailash C, Bal, Vineeta, Natchu, Uma Chandra Mouli, Bhatnagar, Shinjini, Tavassoli, Morvarid, Lyell, Deirdre J, Rath, Satyajit, Wadhwa, Nitya, Maecker, Holden T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16-11-2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Arsenic; Asthma; B-Lymphocyte Subsets - cytology; B-Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; California; CD4 antigen; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - cytology; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8 antigen; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - cytology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cord blood; Dendritic cells; Female; Flow cytometry; Genetic factors; Gynecology; Hospitals; Humans; Immune system; Immunoglobulin A; Immunoglobulin A - immunology; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Immunoglobulin M; Immunoglobulins; Immunologic Memory; Immunological memory; Immunology; India; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infections; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes B; Lymphocytes T; Male; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Memory cells; Monocytes; Monocytes - cytology; Monocytes - immunology; Natural killer cells; Neonates; Newborn babies; Obstetrics; Pediatrics; Phenotypes; Umbilical cord; California; India; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207297

To compare immune phenotypes across two geographic and ethnic communities, we examined umbilical cord blood by flow cytometry and Luminex in parallel cohorts of 53 newborns from New Delhi, India, and 46 newborns from Stanford, California. We found that frequencies of a B cell subset suggested to be B-1-like, and serum IgM concentration were both significantly higher in the Stanford cohort, independent of differences in maternal age. While serum IgA levels were also significantly higher in the Stanford cohort, IgG1, IgG2, and IgG4 were significantly higher in the New Delhi samples. We found that neutrophils, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, CD8+ T cells, and total T cells were higher in the U.S. cohort, while dendritic cells, patrolling monocytes (CD14dimCD16+), natural killer cells, CD4+ T cells, and naïve B cells were higher in the India cohort. Within the India cohort, we also identified cell types whose frequency was positively or negatively predictive of occurrence of infection(s) in the first six months of life. Monocytes, total T cells, and memory CD4+ T cells were most prominent in having an inverse relationship with infection. We suggest that these data provide impetus for follow-up studies linking phenotypic differences to environmental versus genetic factors, and to infection outcomes.