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Shortly after birth, babies’ immune system change dramatically in response to the pathogens in its new environment, a phenomenon that is common to all babies. Examining changes in the neonatal immune system has been difficult, since the analyses are made from samples taken from the umbilical cord directly after delivery.
Researchers have now exploited a new technique of immune cell analysis to monitor how babies develop for the first few weeks of life outside the womb. Researcher at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) and the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet saw drastic changes in the babies’ immune systems between each sampling, which shows that it is highly dynamic early in life.
The study compared blood samples from 100 babies, both premature and full-term, taken during the first, fourth and 12th week. The comparison was achieved using an advanced technique of immune cell analysis-mass cytometry in combination with extensive plasma protein analyses.
Just a few drops of blood from each baby are needed to analyse all the white blood cells and hundreds of proteins circulating in the blood. The researchers were also able to show that the babies with abnormal gut flora development during the first weeks also demonstrated a disorder of the immune system.
The adaptation of the immune system is thought to be triggered by the microbes, bacteria, fungi and so forth that the baby encounters outside the womb. The process begins primarily in the lungs, gut, skin and mucosa, the body’s points of contact with the outside world.