Multiple sclerosis risk variants influence the peripheral B-cell compartment early in life in the general population.

Background And Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with abnormal B-cell function, and MS genetic risk alleles affect multiple genes that are expressed in B cells. However, how these genetic variants impact the B-cell compartment in early childhood is unclear. In the current study, we aim to assess whether polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for MS are associated with changes in the blood B-cell compartment in children from the general population.

Associations between T cells and attention problems in the general pediatric population: The Generation R study.

Objective: The pathogenesis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is currently unclear. We hypothesized that chronic immune activation, as indexed by T and B cells, plays a role in the pathophysiology of attention problems. Therefore, we examined T and B cell subsets in a general pediatric population with information on attention problems.

T cell composition and polygenic multiple sclerosis risk: A population-based study in children.

Background And Purpose: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have altered T cell function and composition. Common genetic risk variants for MS affect proteins that function in the immune system. It is currently unclear to what extent T cell composition is affected by genetic risk factors for MS, and how this may precede a possible disease onset.

Childhood Adiposity Associated With Expanded Effector Memory CD8+ and Vδ2+Vγ9+ T Cells.

Context: Adult obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation and may give rise to future chronic disease. However, it is unclear whether adiposity-related inflammation is already apparent in childhood.

Objective: To study associations between child adiposity measures with circulating monocytes and naive and memory subsets in CD4, CD8, and γδ T cell lineages.

Association between nasal and nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization in early life and eczema phenotypes.

Background: An association has been reported between early life Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage and higher risk of childhood eczema, but it is unclear whether this relationship is causal and associations with other bacterial species are unclear.

Objective: To examine the associations of early life nasal and nasopharyngeal bacterial carriage with eczema phenotypes, and the direction of any associations identified.

Methods: Among 996 subjects of a population-based prospective cohort study, nasal swabs for Staphylococcus  aureus, and nasopharyngeal swabs for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae were collected and cultured from age 6 weeks to 6 years.

Increased Th22 cell numbers in a general pediatric population with filaggrin haploinsufficiency: The Generation R Study.

Background: Mutations in the filaggrin gene (FLG) affect epidermal barrier function and increase the risk of atopic dermatitis (AD). We hypothesized that FLG mutations affect immune cell composition in a general pediatric population. Therefore, we investigated whether school-aged children with and without FLG mutations have differences in T- and B-cell subsets.

Hypereosinophilic syndrome with multiorgan involvement: an interdisciplinary work-up.

A previously healthy 40-year-old man was referred to our emergency department with pruritic skin lesions and dyspnoea. Laboratory investigation revealed hypereosinophilia. Further diagnostic work-up confirmed the diagnosis of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (iHES), a rare myeloproliferative disease with a heterogeneous clinical presentation.

Airway bacterial carriage and childhood respiratory health: A population-based prospective cohort study.

Background: Airway bacterial carriage might play a role in respiratory disease. We hypothesize that nasal carriage with Staphylococcus aureus or nasopharyngeal carriage with Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae predisposes individuals to adverse respiratory health.

Objective: To examine the association of early-life airway bacterial carriage with respiratory tract infections and vice versa, and of early-life airway bacterial carriage with wheezing, lung function, and asthma in later childhood.

Associations of Th2, Th17, Treg cells, and IgA memory B cells with atopic disease in children: The Generation R Study.

Background: New insights into immune cells could contribute to treatment and monitoring of atopic disease. Because nongenetic factors shape the human immune system, we here studied these immune cells in a large cohort with atopic children with adjustment for prenatal and postnatal confounders.

Methods: Information on atopic dermatitis, inhalant- and food-allergic sensitization, asthma lung function scores was obtained from 855 10-year-old children within the Generation R cohort.

The role of vitamin D on circulating memory T cells in children: The Generation R study.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that vitamin D affects T-cell function and maturation via the vitamin D receptor. However, no studies in children have been performed on this topic. Because most of the T-cell memory is formed in the first 5 years of life, we aimed to determine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and numbers of circulatory naive, central memory (Tcm), and effector memory (Tem) T lymphocytes in a large population of healthy children.