Publications by authors named "O T Idoko"
Article Synopsis
- Neonatal sepsis is a serious condition with vague symptoms, making early diagnosis challenging; researchers aimed to identify gene expression biomarkers at birth to improve early detection.
- In a study of 720 healthy full-term newborns, they compared gene expression data from those later hospitalized for early-onset sepsis (EOS) and others who remained healthy, identifying significant genetic differences.
- A 4-gene signature (HSPH1, BORA, NCAPG2, PRIM1) was developed, showing high predictive accuracy for EOS at birth, indicating that even healthy-appearing infants may already exhibit signs of future sepsis through gene expression changes.
Article Synopsis
- Early life adaptations in immune system function are crucial for infant health, with newborns facing environmental challenges that test their immune response.
- Adenosine deaminases (ADAs), specifically ADA-1 and ADA-2, play important roles in immune modulation, and infants typically show lower ADA activity, resulting in higher levels of plasma adenosine and an anti-inflammatory bias.
- A study comparing plasma ADA activity in infants from Papua New Guinea to those from The Gambia found that PNG infants had lower ADA levels at birth but these levels increased and converged by the one-month mark, highlighting the importance of genetic and environmental factors in immune development.
Understanding of newborn immune ontogeny in the first week of life will enable age-appropriate strategies for safeguarding vulnerable newborns against infectious diseases. Here we conducted an observational study exploring the immunological profile of infants longitudinally throughout their first week of life. Our Expanded Program on Immunization - Human Immunology Project Consortium (EPIC-HIPC) studies the epigenetic regulation of systemic immunity using small volumes of peripheral blood samples collected from West African neonates on days of life (DOL) 0, 1, 3, and 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first few days of life are characterized by rapid external and internal changes that require substantial immune system adaptations. Despite growing evidence of the impact of this period on lifelong immune health, this period remains largely uncharted. To identify factors that may impact the trajectory of immune development, we conducted stringently standardized, high-throughput phenotyping of peripheral white blood cell (WBC) populations from 796 newborns across two distinct cohorts (The Gambia, West Africa; Papua New Guinea, Melanesia) in the framework of a Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA single birth-dose of Hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) can protect newborns from acquiring Hepatitis B infection through vertical transmission, though several follow-up doses are required to induce long-lived protection. In addition to stimulating antibodies, a birth-dose of HepB might also induce polyfunctional CD4 T-cells, which may contribute to initial protection. We investigated whether vaccination with HepB in the first week of life induced detectable antigen-specific CD4 T-cells after only a single dose and following completion of the entire HepB vaccine schedule (3 doses).
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