Microbiome Transfer to Newborn Mice Involves Maternal T Cells, Shapes Developing Immunity
The immune development of offspring is, in part, controlled by cues from the mother. However, little is known about how white blood cells regulate offspring immunity. Now, a new study uncovers that maternal innate-like lymphocytes (specifically γδ T cells) influence the transfer of maternal microbiota during birth and nursing, and impact the lung immune response in newborns.
The researchers found that maternal γδ T cells, which were never associated with this process, are involved in the development of the newborns’ lung immunity by exerting an effect on the gut microorganism’s colonization.
This work is published in Cell Reports in the paper, “Maternal γδ T cells shape offspring pulmonary type 2 immunity in a microbiota-dependent manner.”
Before birth, the lungs are filled with a sterile liquid that is replaced by gas in the first breath after birth. This causes an immune reaction involving substantial lung tissue remodeling, called “first breath response.” Now, researchers at Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM) at the Universidade de Lisboa, in Lisbon, Portugal, have implicated the γδ T cells in this immune response in mice.
“We found that newborns born and raised by mothers lacking γδ T cells acquire a different gut microbiota. The intestinal microorganisms in these mice are not able to produce sufficient amounts of a type of molecules that are important to modulate the lung immune response to the first breath,” explained Bruno Silva Santos, PhD, group leader and vice director at the iMM, adding: “As a result, these pups have an exacerbated first breath immune response.”
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