(Press-News.org) NEW YORK, NY--A pair of new studies led by researchers at Columbia University explains why babies get so many common respiratory infections and identifies a specialized cluster of immune cells found only in babies that help them better cope with new pathogens.
“We know little about how the immune system develops throughout life, and most of what we know about immune system development in children comes from animal studies,” says Donna Farber, PhD, an expert in immune system development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons who led the research. “But mice develop much more quickly than humans and their immune systems are a bit different than ours.”
Using a trove of tissue samples from deceased pediatric organ donors, Farber’s team was able to pinpoint aspects of immune system development that distinguish babies from adults.
Immune cells in lungs and gut take time to mature
One study, published in Immunity, found that specialized immune cells called memory T cells—formed after first exposure to a pathogen—accumulate rapidly in the lungs and intestines through age 3 and more gradually in blood and lymph tissues. These cells enable older children and adults to mount an immediate and specific immune response during the next encounter with a pathogen.
But there’s a hitch.
“We found that memory T cells in young children are not functionally mature and only begin to have the capacity for protective immunity at around ages 4 to 6 years,” Farber says. “This explains why babies and young children are more vulnerable to recurrent respiratory infections and other infectious diseases compared with adults.”
The findings also may explain why introducing foods to children during the first year of life could prevent severe food allergies. “Early memory T cells are more tolerant than mature memory cells, so they’re not going to create an immune response against new foods,” Farber says.
‘Secret weapon’ protects babies from new pathogens
But while babies are highly susceptible to recurrent infections, a second study, published in Nature Immunology, found that babies have a unique way of coping with new pathogens. The researchers found clusters of antibody-producing B cells surrounded by T cells in the infants’ lungs. This bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue, or BALT, is formed between 6 and 12 months of age and disappears after age 3.
“BALT enables the lung to make antibodies to respiratory pathogens well before T cell memory has developed but fall apart in later childhood when they are no longer needed,” says Farber. “This mechanism helps young children respond to the many different respiratory pathogens they encounter early in life.”
It also may explain why young kids are more resilient to new respiratory infections compared to adults—including SARS-CoV-2.
“With SARS-CoV-2, a virus no one had ever encountered before, we saw that people in their 50s and 60s were very susceptible to severe COVID, but most kids exposed to SARS-CoV-2 were fine, and many didn’t even have symptoms,” Farber says. “That told us that the babies and young children must have some adaptations to respond to new pathogens that adults don’t have.”
BALT also may be a reason why some children develop chronic asthma and allergies. “It’s possible that these diseases may be caused in part by the abnormal persistence of BALT well into childhood, which could trigger an overreaction to certain antigens,” says Farber.
Farber adds that the study may provide clues about why early trials of intranasal COVID vaccines have not shown promise in adults, whereas intranasal influenza vaccine tends to work better in children. “It could be that this type of vaccine works better in children because they have BALT structures that can initiate new antibodies in the lungs.”
“BALT provides some protection but clearly does not protect young children from everything,” Farber continues. “We have to remember that before vaccines, a third of children died of infectious diseases during infancy. So childhood vaccines are really important for protecting us.”
More information
Donna Farber, PhD, is the George H. Humphreys II Professor of Surgical Sciences (in Surgery) and professor of microbiology & immunology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“Site-specific development and progressive maturation of human tissue resident memory T cells over infancy and childhood” was published online July 7 in the journal Immunity.
The full list of authors can be found online.
The study was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health (AI106697, AI100119, AI168634, AI150650 AI106697, AI128949, AI141686) and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The authors declare no competing interests.
“Induction of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue is an early life adaptation for promoting human B cell immunity” was published online July 17 in Nature Immunology.
The full list of authors can be found online.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (AI100119, AI106697, AI128949, and AI168634) and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The authors declare no competing interests.
END
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – For many busy families, online access to a child’s health provider for medical advice, health records or prescription refills is likely a convenient option.
Yet, only 43% of parents have set their child up for a patient portal – an online tool allowing communication between patients and medical providers – and others may not be optimizing portal use, suggests the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
“Patient portals offer a wide range of benefits, including decreasing unnecessary hassles for providers and patients and improving access to both the medical ...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 17, 2023
Contact:
Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu
Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu
##
The Missing Americans: Unprecedented US Mortality Far Exceeds Other Wealthy Nations
A new study found that more than one million US deaths a year—including many young and working-age adults—could be avoided if the US had mortality rates similar to its peer nations.
In 2021, 1.1 million deaths would have been averted ...
As the world's population continues to grow, ensuring access to clean and safe water has become an increasingly important concern, yet little is known about how surface water quality will change in the future. Recent scientific research has shed light on the potential challenges that surface water quality may face in the coming years, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. “While surface water quality is projected to improve in most developed countries, there is an important caveat: the outlook for the poorest nations is bleak”.
A recent study, published in Nature Water, has projected an increase in surface water pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa. These findings ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a lab at The Ohio State University masquerading as a playroom, pairs of kids ages 8 to 12 participating in a study found a variety of toys and games to play with – as well as a mysterious file cabinet.
Inside one of the drawers of the unlocked cabinet were two disabled 9-mm handguns.
As they played in the room, nearly all the children eventually found the guns. But some kids in the study were much more likely to tell an adult they found a gun, less likely to touch the gun, and were less reckless if they did touch it – and they were the kids who had watched a one-minute gun safety video a week earlier.
The study may be the ...
NNew research appearing in the journal Nature Biotechnology answers important questions about the viability of treatments that seek to replace diseased and aged cells in the central nervous system with healthy ones. Its findings have implications for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders—including Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and schizophrenia—that have been linked to glia, a population of cells that support brain health and function.
“A broad variety of disorders we associate with neuronal loss now appear to be caused ...
Griffith University researchers have played a key role in using DNA ‘origami’ templates to control the way viruses are assembled.
The global team behind the research, published in Nature Nanotechnology, developed a way to direct the assembly of virus capsids – the protein shell of viruses - at physiological conditions in a precise and programmable manner.
Dr Frank Sainsbury and Dr Donna McNeale from the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery were part of the research team and said forcing viruses to assemble onto DNA folded into different shapes “like origami” was a question that this project answered.
“We achieved control over the virus protein ...
Consumers in the richer, developed nations will have to accept restrictions on their energy use if international climate change targets are to be met, warn researchers.
The big challenge is to identify the fairest and most equitable way that governments can curtail energy use, a process known as energy demand reduction.
Writing in the journal Nature Energy, the research team - led by Milena Büchs, Professor of Sustainable Welfare at the University of Leeds - analysed several scenarios to identify a potential ...
About The Study: This study found that large increases in mortality with Alzheimer disease and related dementias as an underlying or contributing cause of death occurred in COVID-19 pandemic year 1 but were largely mitigated in pandemic year 2. The most pronounced declines were observed for deaths in nursing home/long-term care settings. Conversely, excess deaths at home and in medical facilities remained high in year 2.
Authors: M. Maria Glymour, Sc.D., of the Boston University School of Public Health ...
About The Study: History of present illnesses generated by a chatbot or written by senior internal medicine residents were graded similarly by internal medicine attending physicians. These findings underscore the potential of chatbots to aid clinicians with medical documentation.
Authors: Ashwin Nayak, M.D., M.S., of Stanford University in Stanford, California, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.2561)
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, ...
A new study proposes ways to better incorporate adaptation in climate change research, addressing the uneven distribution of adaptation capacities and needs worldwide.
Research on adaptation to the risks posed by climate change has witnessed significant growth in the past decade, with increasing recognition of its urgency in policy agendas at the international, national, and local levels. Adaptation needs and capacities are not evenly distributed worldwide, with countries in the Global South generally experiencing the highest challenges. ...
