title: Early-Life Exposure to Clostridium leptum Causes Pulmonary Immunosuppression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low Clostridium leptum levels are a risk factor for the development of asthma. C. leptum deficiency exacerbates asthma; however, the impact of early-life C. leptum exposure on cesarean-delivered mice remains unclear. This study is to determine the effects of early-life C. leptum exposure on asthma development in infant mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  We exposed infant mice to C. leptum (fed-CL) and then induced asthma using the allergen ovalbumin (OVA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fed-CL increased regulatory T (Treg) cells in cesarean-delivered mice compared with vaginally delivered mice. Compared with OVA-exposed mice, mice exposed to C. leptum + OVA did not develop the typical asthma phenotype, which includes airway hyper-responsiveness, cell infiltration, and T helper cell subset (Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17) inflammation. Early-life C. leptum exposure induced an immunosuppressive environment in the lung concurrent with increased Treg cells, resulting in the inhibition of Th1, Th2, Th9, and Th17 cell responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate a mechanism whereby C. leptum exposure modulates adaptive immunity and leads to failure to develop asthma upon OVA sensitization later in life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Hong-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.|Department of Molecular Biology, Basic Medical College of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Jia-Ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Yang-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.|Department of Molecular Biology, Basic Medical College of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Ya-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D003013:Clostridium / Q000276:immunology*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D010047:Ovalbumin