title: Season of birth shapes neonatal immune function.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Birth season has been reported to be a risk factor for several immune-mediated diseases. We hypothesized that this association is mediated by differential changes in neonatal immune phenotype and function with birth season.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to investigate the influence of season of birth on cord blood immune cell subsets and inflammatory mediators in neonatal airways.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cord blood was phenotyped for 26 different immune cell subsets, and at 1 month of age, 20 cytokines and chemokines were quantified in airway mucosal lining fluid. Multivariate partial least squares discriminant analyses were applied to determine whether certain immune profiles dominate by birth season, and correlations between individual cord blood immune cells and early airway immune mediators were defined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a birth season-related fluctuation in neonatal immune cell subsets and in early-life airway mucosal immune function. The seasonal airway immune pattern was associated with the number of activated and regulatory T cells in cord blood whereas it was independent of concomitant presence of pathogenic airway microbes. Specifically, summer newborns presented with the lowest levels of all cell types and mediators; fall newborns displayed high levels of activated T cells and mucosal IL-12p70, TNF-α, IL-13, IL-10, and IL-2; and winter newborns had the highest levels of innate immune cells, IL-5, type 17-related immune mediators, and activated T cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Birth season fluctuations seem to affect neonatal immune development and result in differential potentiation of cord blood immune cells and early airway mucosal immune function.
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anna Hammerich
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Thysen
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Spectroscopy and Chemometrics, Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Morten Arendt
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Eskil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kreiner-Møller
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jeppe Madura
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nilofar Vahman
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Følsgaard
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bønnelykke
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stokholm
authors.affiliation: COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: bisgaard@copsac.com.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bisgaard
authors.affiliation: Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brix
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018925:Chemokines / Q000378:metabolism; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000276:immunology*; D012621:Seasons; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018925:Chemokines; D016207:Cytokines
keywords: Birth season; airway mucosa; cord blood immune cells; neonatal immunity