Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal; KwaZulu-Natal South Africa
  • 2 Institute of Clinical Medicine, University in Oslo, Women's' clinic, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
  • 3 Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
  • 4 Institute of Research and Molecular Medicine (INFORMI), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, George Town, Malaysia
  • 5 Biomedical Research and Training Institute, Harare, Zimbabwe
  • 6 Department of Immunology, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
Afr J Reprod Health, 2018 Sep;22(3):43-50.
PMID: 30381931 DOI: 10.29063/ajrh2018/v22i3.5

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the maternal characteristics that in turn influence the immunological status of infants in asymptomatic enteric pathogen carriers in mother baby pairs (MBPs) in a high HIV burdened population in Harare, Zimbabwe. BIOPLEX immunoassay was used to analyse serum samples from 39 MBPs for 27 cytokines and 6 immunoglobulins. The MBP were purposively selected based on HIV infection and Entamoeba histolytica carriage. Logistic regression was used to identify any link between maternal demographic and clinical data with infant cytokine and immunoglobulin levels. Maternal E. histolytica carriers were more likely to have infants with low levels of IL-12p70, FGF-basic, GM-CSF and TNF-α cytokines (OR: 0.14; 95% CI: 0.03-0.79) and high levels of IgA immunoglobulin (OR: 8.1; 95% CI: 1.45-45.06). HIV infected mothers were more likely to have infants with low levels of IgG2 (OR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.06-1.00) and IgA (OR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.05-0.90) immunoglobulins. Notably, it was highly likely to deliver infants with low IgG4 levels (OR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.06-1.02) for maternal mean age above 30.38 years (Standard deviation 6.09) though not significant (p=0.05). Maternal E. histolytica asymptomatic carriage, and HIV-infection status result in low levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-12p70, FGF-basic, GM-CSF and TNF-α and immunoglobulins IgG2, IgG4 and IgA on their infants.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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