BACKGROUND In rural Gambia, birth season predicts infection-related adult mortality, providing evidence that seasonal factors in early life may programme immune development. This study tested whether lymphocyte subpopulations assessed by automated full blood count and flow cytometry in cord blood and at 8, 16 and 52 weeks in rural Gambian infants (N = 138) are affected by birth season (DRY = Jan-Jun, harvest season, few infections; WET = Jul-Dec, hungry season, many infections), birth size or micronutrient status. RESULTS Geometric mean cord and postnatal counts were higher in births occurring in the WET season with both season of birth and season of sampling effects. Absolute CD3+, CD8+, and CD56+ counts, were higher in WET season births, but absolute CD4+ counts were unaffected and percentage CD4+ counts were therefore lower. CD19+ counts showed no association with birth season but were associated with concurrent plasma zinc status. There were no other associations between subpopulation counts and micronutrient or anthropometric status. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate a seasonal influence on cell counts with a disproportionate effect on CD8+ and CD56+ relative to CD4+ cells. This seasonal difference was seen in cord blood (indicating an effect in utero) and subsequent samples, and is not explained by nutritional status. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis than an early environmental exposure can programme human immune development.

中文翻译：

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出生季节和环境对冈比亚农村婴儿血液白细胞和淋巴细胞亚群的影响。

背景在冈比亚农村，出生季节可预测与感染相关的成人死亡率，提供证据表明生命早期的季节性因素可能会影响免疫发育。本研究测试了在冈比亚农村婴儿（N = 138）中通过自动全血细胞计数和流式细胞术评估的淋巴细胞亚群是否受到出生季节（干燥 = 1 月至 6 月，收获季节，很少感染；WET = 7 月至 12 月，饥饿季节，许多感染）、出生体重或微量营养素状况。结果 受出生季节和抽样季节影响，在潮湿季节出生的婴儿的几何平均脐带数和产后计数较高。湿季出生的绝对 CD3+、CD8+ 和 CD56+ 计数较高，但绝对 CD4+ 计数不受影响，因此 CD4+ 计数百分比较低。CD19+ 计数显示与出生季节无关，但与并发血浆锌状态相关。亚群计数与微量营养素或人体测量状态之间没有其他关联。结论 这些结果表明季节性影响对细胞计数的影响，对 CD8+ 和 CD56+ 的影响相对于 CD4+ 细胞不成比例。这种季节性差异在脐带血（表明在子宫内有影响）和随后的样本中可见，并不能用营养状况来解释。这些发现与早期环境暴露可以编程人类免疫发育的假设一致。结论 这些结果表明季节性影响对细胞计数的影响，对 CD8+ 和 CD56+ 的影响相对于 CD4+ 细胞不成比例。这种季节性差异在脐带血（表明在子宫内有影响）和随后的样本中可见，并不能用营养状况来解释。这些发现与早期环境暴露可以编程人类免疫发育的假设一致。结论 这些结果表明季节性影响对细胞计数的影响，对 CD8+ 和 CD56+ 的影响相对于 CD4+ 细胞不成比例。这种季节性差异在脐带血（表明在子宫内有影响）和随后的样本中可见，并不能用营养状况来解释。这些发现与早期环境暴露可以编程人类免疫发育的假设一致。