Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Sep;10(9):1171-84.
doi: 10.1586/1744666X.2014.942288. Epub 2014 Aug 4.

Immune responses in neonates

Saleem Basha  1 , Naveen Surendran, Michael Pichichero
Affiliations
Review

Immune responses in neonates

Saleem Basha et al. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Neonates have little immunological memory and a developing immune system, which increases their vulnerability to infectious agents. Recent advances in the understanding of neonatal immunity indicate that both innate and adaptive responses are dependent on precursor frequency of lymphocytes, antigenic dose and mode of exposure. Studies in neonatal mouse models and human umbilical cord blood cells demonstrate the capability of neonatal immune cells to produce immune responses similar to adults in some aspects but not others. This review focuses mainly on the developmental and functional mechanisms of the human neonatal immune system. In particular, the mechanism of innate and adaptive immunity and the role of neutrophils, antigen presenting cells, differences in subclasses of T lymphocytes (Th1, Th2, Tregs) and B cells are discussed. In addition, we have included the recent developments in the neonatal mouse immune system. Understanding neonatal immunity is essential to development of therapeutic vaccines to combat newly emerging infectious agents.

Keywords: B cell; B-reg cell; BCR; CD103 dendritic cell; CD5 cell; CD71 erythroid cell; IL-27 macrophages; NK-cell; RTE; T cell; T follicular cell; TCR; Th 17; Treg cell; adaptive immunity; chemokines; cord blood; dendritic cell; innate immunity; neonates; neutrophils; toll-like receptor; γδ-T cell.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathways of neonatal T-cell responses during APC interactions: 1. TCR signaling: Neonatal T-cells have reduced TCR mediate activity due to inefficient phospholipase C (PLC) activation and reduced Lck expression. 2. Cytokine expression: Neonatal T-cells demonstrate polarization towards Th2 responses by producing higher IL-4 and decreased production of multifunctional Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Impairment of neonatal B-cell activation with antigen: 1. Reduced expression of CD21 and increased expression of negative regulators (CD22) lowers the level of BCR signaling and induces apoptosis. 2. Higher density of IgM molecules induces cross-linking with BCR molecules resulting in lower proliferation of B-cells and loss of TCR-MHC II interactions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Liu L, Johnson HL, Cousens S, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. Lancet. 2012;379(9832):2151–2161. - PubMed
    1. Waaijenborg S, Hahne SJ, Mollema L, et al. Waning of maternal antibodies against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in communities with contrasting vaccination coverage. The Journal of infectious diseases. 2013;208(1):10–16. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hodgins DC, Shewen PE. Vaccination of neonates: problem and issues. Vaccine. 2012;30(9):1541–1559. - PubMed
    1. Siegrist CA. The challenges of vaccine responses in early life: selected examples. Journal of comparative pathology. 2007;137(Suppl 1):S4–S9. - PubMed
    1. Sanz E, Munoz AN, Monserrat J, et al. Ordering human CD34+CD10-CD19+ pre/pro-B-cell and CD19- common lymphoid progenitor stages in two pro-B-cell development pathways. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2010;107(13):5925–5930. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types