Abstract / Description of output
Vitamin A supplementation reduces child mortality in populations at risk of vitamin A deficiency and may also reduce maternal mortality. One possible explanation for this is that vitamin A deficiency is associated with altered immune function and cytokine dysregulation. Vitamin A deficiency in pregnancy may thus compound the pregnancy-associated bias of cellular immune responses towards Th-2-like responses and exacerbate susceptibility to intracellular pathogens. We assessed mitogen and antigen-induced cytokine responses during pregnancy and lactation in Ghanaian primigravidae receiving either vitamin A supplementation or placebo. This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of weekly vitamin A supplementation in pregnant and lactating women. Pregnancy compared to postpartum was associated with a suppression of cytokine responses, in particular of the proinflammatory cytokines interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. Mitogen-induced TNF-alpha responses were associated with a decreased risk of peripheral parasitaemia during pregnancy. Furthermore, vitamin A supplementation was significantly associated with an increased ratio of mitogen-induced proinflammatory cytokine (IFN-gamma) to anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. The results of this study indicate that suppression of proinflammatory type 1 immune responses and hence immunity to intracellular infections, resulting from the combined effects of pregnancy and vitamin A deficiency, might be ameliorated by vitamin A supplementation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 392-400 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Clinical & Experimental Immunology |
Volume | 144 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2006 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Cytokines/biosynthesis
- Double-Blind Method
- Female
- Humans
- Immunity, Cellular/drug effects
- Interferon-gamma/biosynthesis
- Interleukin-10/biosynthesis
- Lactation/immunology
- Parasitemia/immunology
- Phytohemagglutinins/immunology
- Postnatal Care/methods
- Pregnancy
- Pregnancy Complications/immunology
- Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/immunology
- Prenatal Care/methods
- Tuberculin/immunology
- Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/biosynthesis
- Vitamin A/blood
- Vitamin A Deficiency/immunology