CCR7 expression in T cell subsets in children with allergic diseases

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

It is well known that infants and young children show a lower capability to mount immune responses as compared with adults, resulting in an increasing susceptibility to infectious and allergic diseases, CCR7, one of chemokine receptors, has been described as a defining factor for two different types of memory T cells, termed central and effector memory T cells. Therefore, we evaluated developmental changes in CCR7 expression of healthy and allergic children. Although CCR7 expression on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells changed dynamically as aging, there was no significant difference between healthy and allergic subjects. Then we evaluated developmental changes in production of IL-12, which has an important role in developing Th1 cells. The ability of monocytes to produce IL-12 was negligible at birth and gradually, increased with advancing age. At more than 7 years of age, IL-12 production of allergic subjects was significantly lower compared with healthy subjects. The unexpected finding was that infants with food allergy had higher ability of IL-12 production. These results suggest that many immunological factors developed as aging, and that some of them are related with allergic diseases. In clinical situation, monitoring these markers could be useful to evaluate Th1/Th2 balance in allergic diseases.