TY - JOUR T1 - Influence of farm exposure and pets ownership during pregnancy on cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) with intracellular production of interferon (IFN)-γ JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 42 IS - Suppl 57 SP - P4334 AU - Tereshchenko Sergey AU - Novitzkiy Ivan AU - Vasilieva Lyudmila Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P4334.abstract N2 - 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. ER -