Cited by 198Birth, Development, and HealthImmune responses and vaccinationsInfant Nutrition and Health

Nutritionally Mediated Programming of the Developing Immune System

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Palmer, Amanda C.·2011·Advances in Nutrition

Abstract

A growing body of evidence highlights the importance of a mother's nutrition from preconception through lactation in programming the emerging organ systems and homeostatic pathways of her offspring. The developing immune system may be particularly vulnerable. Indeed, examples of nutrition-mediated immune programming can be found in the literature on intra-uterine growth retardation, maternal micronutrient deficiencies, and infant feeding. Current models of immune ontogeny depict a "layered" expansion of increasingly complex defenses, which may be permanently altered by maternal malnutrition. One programming mechanism involves activation of the maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to nutritional stress. Fetal or neonatal exposure to elevated stress hormones is linked in animal studies to permanent changes in neuroendocrine-immune interactions, with diverse manifestations such as an attenuated inflammatory response or reduced resistance to tumor colonization. Maternal malnutrition may also have a direct influence, as evidenced by nutrient-driven epigenetic changes to developing T regulatory cells and subsequent risk of allergy or asthma. A 3rd programming pathway involves placental or breast milk transfer of maternal immune factors with immunomodulatory functions (e.g. cytokines). Maternal malnutrition can directly affect transfer mechanisms or influence the quality or quantity of transferred factors. The public health implications of nutrition-mediated immune programming are of particular importance in the developing world, where prevalent maternal undernutrition is coupled with persistent infectious challenges. However, early alterations to the immune system, resulting from either nutritional deficiencies or excesses, have broad relevance for immune-mediated diseases, such as asthma, and chronic inflammatory conditions like cardiovascular disease.

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  • Maternal malnutrition can have adverse implications for the neonate, and neonatal immune responses may be modulated by the nutrition of a mother during gestation.

    “Maternal malnutrition can have adverse implications for the neonate, and it has been demonstrated that neonatal immune responses may be modulated by the nutrition of a mother during gestation (108).”
  • Non-pregnant individuals with HIV have significantly higher levels of galactose-deficient IgG than healthy controls.

    “Interestingly, non-pregnant individuals with infectious diseases such as HIV have been shown to have significantly higher levels of galactose-deficient IgG than healthy controls.”

    From Factors Affecting the FcRn-Mediated Transplacental Transfer of Antibodies and Implications for Vaccination in Pregnancy (2017) · cites this paper as [108]

    The Placental transfer section discusses maternal HIV infection in relation to reduced transfer of IgG to infants, not galactose-deficient IgG levels in non-pregnant individuals. Searches for galactose-deficient IgG and related glycosylation terms found no passage comparing people with HIV against healthy controls. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Abrahams VM. Thirty years of reproductive immunology: an intro- duction. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2010;63:411-2.

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Authors
Palmer, A. C.
Affiliations
Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
Palmer, Amanda C.
Venue
Advances in Nutrition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-09
Volume
2
Issue
5
Pages
377-395
ISSN
  • 2156-5376 (ISSN-L)
  • 2161-8313
OpenAlex
W2168523800
Cited by
198
References
373
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 5
FWCI
1.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Advances in Nutrition (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • United States Agency for International Development (GHS-A-00-03-00019-00)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (GHS-A-00-03-00019-00)
  • Procter and Gamble
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune responses and vaccinations
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
Keywords
immune programming, maternal nutrition, maternal malnutrition, fetal programming, immune ontogeny, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, stress hormones, neuroendocrine-immune interaction, epigenetic regulation, regulatory T cells, placental transfer, breast milk, cytokines, micronutrient deficiency, fetal growth restriction, infant feeding, immune-mediated diseases
MeSH terms
Animals, Breast Feeding, Female, Fetal Growth Retardation, Humans, Immune System, Lactation, Maternal-Fetal Exchange, Nutritional Status, Pregnancy, Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Malnutrition, Nutrition Therapy

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