Systemic inflammatory proteins in offspring following maternal probiotic supplementation for atopic dermatitis prevention.

BACKGROUND: Maternal probiotic supplementation has a promising effect on atopic dermatitis (AD) prevention in infancy. In the randomised controlled study, Probiotics in the Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (ProPACT), maternal probiotics reduced the cumulative incidence of AD in their offspring by 40% at 2 years of age. However, our understanding on how probiotics prevented AD is still limited, and the role of inflammatory proteins in infants following maternal probiotic supplementation is unclear. We hypothesised that maternal probiotics lowered pro-inflammatory proteins and increased anti-inflammatory proteins in their 2-year-old children as a mechanism of AD prevention. We aimed to explore this hypothesis and the association between these proteins and the presence of AD, severity of AD, and the degree of preventive effect of probiotics. METHODS: Plasma samples were collected from 2-year-old children (n = 202) during the ProPACT study, a randomised placebo-controlled trial of maternal probiotic supplementation. These samples were analysed for 92 inflammatory proteins using a multiplex proximity extension assay. Associations between inflammatory proteins and the presence and severity of AD, and the degree of preventive effect, was estimated individually using regression analysis and then collectively using unsupervised cluster analysis. RESULTS: Several proteins were observed to differ between the groups. The probiotic group had lower CCL11 and IL-17C, while children with AD had higher IL-17C, MCP-4, uPA, and CD6. Cytokine CCL20 and IL-18 had moderate correlation (r = 0.35 and r = 0.46) with the severity of AD. The cluster analysis revealed that children in the cluster of samples with the highest value of immune checkpoint receptors and inflammatory suppressor enzymes showed the greatest AD preventive effect from probiotics. CONCLUSIONS: The proteins associated with both maternal probiotic supplementation and the presence and severity of AD warrant attention because of their potential biological relevance. Cluster analysis may provide a new insight when considering which subgroups benefit from probiotic supplementation. Larger studies are needed to confirm the results. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The study was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00159523) on 12nd September 2005.

Biomarkers of Autoimmunity in Acute Psychiatric Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have suggested that autoantibodies associated with systemic autoimmune disorders are more prevalent in patients with psychotic and affective disorders compared with healthy control subjects. However, most positive studies addressing this issue have been limited by small sample sizes and lack of correction for confounding factors. The authors aimed to assess the prevalence of several autoantibodies in patients admitted to acute psychiatric inpatient care and investigate whether patients with psychotic and affective disorders have an increased prevalence of autoantibodies compared with psychiatric patients admitted for other reasons. METHODS: Five hundred eighty-five patients were screened for the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anticardiolipin and antibeta2-glycoprotein, antithyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO), antitissue transglutaminase IgA, antigliadin deamidated peptide IgG, and rheumatoid factor IgM (RF). Differences in prevalence between patients with nonaffective psychoses (N=105), bipolar disorders (N=78), unipolar depressive disorders (N=146), and other reasons for admission (N=256) were assessed using chi-square tests and logistic regression models. RESULTS: One or more autoantibodies were present in 26.2% of the patients, including ANA (9.4%), RF (9.2%), and anti-TPO (5.6%). Autoantibody prevalence increased with age (odds ratio=1.21, 95% CI=1.09-1.35) and smoking status (odds ratio=1.99, 95% CI=1.04-3.82) but was not associated with a diagnosis of a psychotic or affective disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Autoimmune autoantibodies seem to be equally prevalent in patients with acute psychiatric conditions with and without psychotic and affective disorders. This result challenges the idea that these autoantibodies have specificity for certain psychiatric disorders.

Irradiation to prevent a fatal transfusion complication. / Bestråling for å hindre en fatal transfusjonskomplikasjon.

Cellular blood components should be irradiated as a preventive measure against transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease in severely immunocompromised patients.

Atopic dermatitis prevention in children following maternal probiotic supplementation does not appear to be mediated by breast milk TSLP or TGF-ß.

BACKGROUND: The Probiotics in Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (ProPACT) study, a randomised, placebo controlled trial, demonstrated that maternal supplementation with probiotic milk reduced the incidence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in infancy. The mechanisms behind this effect are incompletely understood and breast milk cytokines have been postulated as possible mediating factors. In this study we aimed to assess whether breast milk TLSP and TGF-ß are affected by a maternal probiotic supplementation regime, and their contribution to the preventive effect of this regime on AD in the offspring. METHODS: TSLP and TGF-ß isoforms (TGF-ß1, TGF-ß2 and TGF-ß3) were measured using ELISA and multiplex assays, respectively, in breast milk samples collected at 10 days and 3 months postpartum from women participating in the ProPACT trial (n = 259). The natural indirect and direct effects of maternal probiotics on AD, due to changes in breast milk cytokines, were estimated using causal mediation techniques. RESULTS: Probiotic supplementation tend to lead to high levels of breast milk TSLP at 10 days postpartum (p = 0.062), but this change did not contribute to the prevention of AD according to the mediation analysis. Probiotics had no apparent effect on TSLP at 3 months or TGF-ßs at either time points. Thus, these are unlikely to be mediators of the effect of maternal probiotics on AD in offspring. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst maternal probiotic supplementation resulted in higher breast milk concentrations of TLSP at 10 days postpartum, this does not appear to be a mechanism for prevention of AD by maternal probiotics. Trial registration The original trial protocol is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier NCT00159523).