Population-specific heterogeneity in ontogeny of the broadly-conserved blood transcriptional program during the first week of life
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Author(s)
Bhavjinder K. Dhillon, Travis M. Blimkie... and Robert E. W. Hancock
Immune programming throughout the first week of life is an important determinant of health during infancy, a period when one is especially vulnerable to infection. In this study, the authors analyzed gene expression patterns in blood samples collected from newborns in The Gambia and Papua New Guinea throughout their first week of life. They found that key immune developmental milestones unfolded consistently, with 88 to 96 percent of the immunological blueprint being shared between the two cohorts. However, a set of approximately 600 genes showed differences in expression between the two populations. These differences are frequently involved in response to infections and could be used to predict susceptibility and response to infection throughout the first year of life.