Aberrant newborn T cell and microbiota developmental trajectories predict respiratory compromise during infancy

Abstract

Neonatal immune-microbiota co-development is poorly understood, yet appropriate recognition of - and response to - pathogens and commensal microbiota is critical to health. In this longitudinal study of 148 pre- and 119 full-term infants from birth through one year of age we found that postmenstrual age, or weeks from conception, not post-natal age, is the dominant factor influencing T cell and mucosal microbiota development. Numerous features of the T cell and microbiota functional development remain unexplained, however, by either age metric and are instead shaped by discrete peri- and post-natal events. Most strikingly, we establish that prenatal antibiotics or infection disrupt the normal T cell population developmental trajectory, influencing subsequent respiratory microbial colonization and predicting respiratory morbidity. In this way, early exposures imprint the postnatal immune-microbiota axis and place an infant at significant risk for respiratory morbidity in early childhood. One Sentence SummaryT cells and microbiota follow predictable, coordinated trajectories in newborns, and their coordination is an important determinant of illness in the first year. Graphical AbstractNasal and rectal microbiome was assessed weekly in the NICU, monthly post-discharge, and when respiratory illness symptoms occurred. T cells were characterized at birth (cord blood), 36-42 weeks postmenstrual age, and at 12 months. Quarterly respiratory morbidity surveys determined the 12-month outcome of persistent respiratory disease. More frequent illnesses and chronic disease outcomes occurred by one year of age if development of these systems was discordant or disrupted. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=142 SRC="FIGDIR/small/736090v3_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (28K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f08adeorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@12d3671org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@151396borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@190dcff_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG