Vitamin A supplementation increases ratios of proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory cytokine responses in pregnancy and lactation

S E Cox, P Arthur, B R Kirkwood, K Yeboah-Antwi, E M Riley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)392-400
Number of pages9
JournalClinical & Experimental Immunology
Volume144
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 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

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