ontogeny of the fetal immune response to maternal smoking in relation to allergic asthma
abstract
the relationship between maternal smoking and the prenatal origins of allergic disease was studied in 78 mothers (in thunder bay, ontario) and their newborns with a sensitive test for interleukin-4, interferon-y, and cotinine as a biological marker to validate smoking data. the relationship between maternal smoking and the prenatal origins of allergic disease
was studied in 78 unselected mothers and their corresponding newborns with a sensitive
test for interleukin-4 (il-4), interferon-y (ifn-y), and cotinine as a biological marker to
validate smoking data. for both maternal [f(3, 74) = 26.43, g < .0001] and cord blood
cotinine [f(3, 74) = 25.2, p < .0001] significantly higher levels were observed for
smokers compared to non-smokers in a dose-response pattern and a high correlation was
found between maternal and cord blood cotinine serum, r = .87, g < .0001, indicating a
good method to confirm the presence of maternal smoking. no association was observed
between cord blood il-4 and maternal smoking, maternal serum cotinine, or cord blood
cotinine, respectively. an association was observed between maternal il-4 and cord
blood il-4, r = .37, g < .01, suggesting a maternal-fetal cytokine interaction. newborn
birth weight significantly decreased as a function of daily maternal smoking, and
maternal and cord blood cotinine, in a dose-response manner. data on maternal smoking
effects on selected perinatal variables are reported. discussion of the pertinence of
additional studies required to elucidate mechanisms involved in prenatal sensitization in
relation to maternal smoking are discussed.
collections
- retrospective theses [1604]