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Developmental origin and sex-specific risk for infections and immune diseases later in life

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Abstract

The intrauterine environment is an important determinant of immunity later in life of the offspring. An altered prenatal immune development can result in a high postnatal risk for infections, chronic immune diseases, and autoimmunity. Many of these immune diseases show a strong sex bias, such as a high incidence of autoimmune diseases and allergies in adult females or a high risk for infections in males. Here, we comprehensively review established pathways and propose novel concepts modulating the risk for such poor immunity during childhood and throughout life. Moreover, we highlight how an adverse fetal environment may affect or aggravate the risk for poor immunity in a sex-specific manner. An improved understanding of a sex-specific susceptibility to poor immunity along with insights on how such risk can be modulated before or around birth will allow the development of tailored prevention strategies.

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Funding

The writing of this review and reference to the authors’ own work were made possible through funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AR232/25-2, AR232/27-2 within KFO296/2) and by start-up funding (Landerforschungsförderung) for the network “Sex-specific immunity,” provided by the State Ministry for Science, Research and Equality in Hamburg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, Laboratory for Experimental Feto-Maternal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Dimitra E. Zazara & Petra Clara Arck

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg, Martinistraße 52, Campus Research (N27) / Rm. 04.039, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    Petra Clara Arck

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  1. Dimitra E. Zazara
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  2. Petra Clara Arck
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Correspondence to Petra Clara Arck.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue on Sex differences in immunity – Guest Editors: Hanna Lotter and Marcus Altfeld

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Zazara, D.E., Arck, P.C. Developmental origin and sex-specific risk for infections and immune diseases later in life. Semin Immunopathol 41, 137–151 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-018-0713-x

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