PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sergey Tereshchenko
AU  - Ivan Novitzkiy
AU  - Lyudmila Vasilieva
TI  - Influence of farm exposure and pets ownership during pregnancy on cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) with intracellular production of interferon (IFN)-γ
DP  - 2012 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1936
VI  - 40
IP  - Suppl 56
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P1936.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P1936.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40
AB  - Some epidemiological and observational data suggest that farm and pets exposure in early childhood may be conducive to reduced atopy. Currently, there is a lack of consensus regarding underlying immunological mechanisms, especially in prenatal period.AIM: We hypothesized the influence of farm exposure and pets ownership during pregnancy on intracellular IFN-γ production by CBMC.METHODS: Intracellular IFN-γ expressions as well as early activation marker CD69 (absolute cells count) were examined using flow cytometry after PHA stimulation of CBMC obtained from 93 full-term newborns. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests were used.RESULTS: We revealed that newborns from rural mothers (n=14) have higher amount of both nonactivated (INFγ+/CD69–, p=0.02) and activated (INFγ+/CD69+, p=0.028) CBMC, producing IFN-γ, as compared with newborns from urban mothers (n=79). Only for newborns from urban mothers we calculated the influence of pets exposure during pregnancy on intracellular IFN-γ production (Fig. 1).Noteworthily, that only amount of activated (INFγ+/CD69+) CBMC was elevated in dog (but not in cat) exposure group.CONCLUSION: Thus, external and home environment factors such as farm exposure and dog ownership may act prenatal affecting Th1/Th2 balance. These findings can leastwise partially explain previously reported epidemiological data.