Table 1.
Season of birth and changes in the immune system of neonates (authors ordered by year and then alphabetically).
| Author, Year [Ref.] | Location Study Design N |
Outcomes Assessed | Season of Birth | Statistically Significant Main Findings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Immune Cells Frequency | Cytokine Patterns/Ig | ||||
| Lehmann et al. 2002 [75] | Germany Cohort N = 158 |
Cytokine response | Summer | ↓ induced-TNF-α (T cells) ↓ induced-IFN-γ (T cells) ↑ induced-IL-4 (T cells) |
|
| Sullivan Dillie et al. 2008 [77] | USA Cohort N = 272 |
Cytokine response | Spring or summer | ↑ PHA-induced IL-5 ↑ PMA-induced IL-5 (summer) ↑ Staphylococcus aureus-induced IL-5 ↑ PHA-induced IL-13 ↑ PMA-induced IL-13 |
|
| Autumn or winter | ↑ CBMC proliferation ↓ Staphylococcus aureus-induced IL-13 |
||||
| Collison et al. 2008 [73] | Gambia Cohort N = 138 |
Lymphocytes (counts) | Wet season | ↑ leukocytes ↑ lymphocytes |
|
| Lendor et al. 2008 [76] | USA Cohort N = 350 |
Cytokine response IgE |
Winter | ↑ cockroach-induced IL-5 | |
| Gold et al. 2009 [78] | USA Cohort N = 558 |
Cytokine production | Autumn or winter | ↑ IFN-γ, IL-8 and TNF-α ↑ IL-12p40 |
|
| ↑ LPS-induced IFN-α ↑ PG-induced IFN-α ↑ CpG-induced IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-10 ↑ cockroach-induced IFN-γ ↑ dust mite-induced IFN-γ ↑ tetanus toxoid-induced IFN-γ |
|||||
| Spring/ summer | ↑ CpG-induced IFN-α | ||||
| Keski-Nisula et al. 2010 [79] | Finland Cohort N = 423 |
Leukocytes (counts) | Cytokine response | Spring | ↓ P/I-induced IL-5, IL-10 and IFN-γ |
| Thysen et al. 2016 [74] | Denmark Cohort N = 84 |
Leukocytes Lymphocytes (counts) |
Winter | ↑ Leukocytes, granulocytes, neutrophils and monocytes ↑ Plasmacytoid dendritic cells ↑ CD56 bright NK cells ↑ Activated Th cells |
|
| Spring | ↑ Tc cells | ||||
CBMC: cord blood mononuclear cell; CD: cluster of differentiation; CpG: Immunostimulatory CpG oligonucleotides; IFN: interferon; IL: interleukin; LPS: Lipopolysaccharide; NK: natural killer; PHA: Phytohemagglutinin; PMA: phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; P/I: phorbol ester and ionomycin PG: Peptidoglycan; Tc: T cytotoxic cells; Th: T helper cell; TNF: tumor necrosis factor.