Catherine Pizzarello - PhD Candisate
Advisor: Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, M.D., Ph.D.
Disturbances in the immune development during the first year of life can result in the development of atopic diseases such as asthma, eczema, and food allergy. Several environmental factors, such as exposure to farm life, have been shown to protect against the development of atopic diseases. Studies have immunophenotyped school-aged children to better understand the effects of farm life on immune system development; however few studies have immunophenotyped infants. The goal of the current study is to immunophenotype helper T (Th) cell and regulatory T (Treg) cell populations, both of which play a critical role in the development of tolerance or atopic disease, in infants from farming (low risk for allergy) or urban (high risk for allergy) lifestyle cohorts. Using the Scalable Weighted Iterative Flow-clustering Technique (SWIFT) pipeline, we have identified a novel, enriched CD25+CD127hi cluster expressing Th type 2 markers CCR4 and CRTH2 in the urban cohort at 6 and 12 months of age. This finding is consistent with the higher prevalence of allergic diseases in the urban population. Additionally at 12 months of age, farming cohort infants have increased gut homing memory Th and memory regulatory T (Treg) cell populations as well as TIGIT+ memory Tregs. Together these differences illustrate the impact of early farming lifestyle exposure on Th and Treg sub-populations in infants.
Dec 02, 2021 @ 12:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K307
Please email Brenda_Knorr@urmc.rochester.edu or Daisy_Bird@urmc.rochester.edu for Zoom link.