Dyrsregulation of T cell immunity in adopted human adolescents

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Seminal discoveries in our field demonstrated early rearing conditions play an important role in guiding the normal development of the immune system. Violation of the inherent expectation for parenting derails not only behavioral and brain development, but also immune responses. Most focus on how early adversity engenders a proinflammatory bias; few take advantage of advances in immunophenotyping. We refined a 17-color MoAB panel to extend the finding of reduced CD4+ and increased CD8+ cells in adolescents adopted as young children (Esposito et al., 2016). Replication was warranted because cell composition had been estimated from distinctive methylation patterns of T cells. We obtained blood from 60 adolescents, including 32 adopted from Russia and Eastern Europe (mean age at adoption: 1.1 yr; 17 m, 15 f) and 28 non-adopted American controls (12 m, 16 f). Numerous T cell populations were defined, including Treg and gamma/delta, their activation state, and NK, B and Mo cells. Immune responses were directionally driven in vitro with 4 different stimulants: PHA, anti-CD3/anti-CD28, PMA/IO, or LPS. Concentrations of 11 cytokines were determined. Our findings confirm that early rearing does have a lasting influence on T cell immunity, verifying the translational relevance of animal models. From a clinical perspective, it raises a concern because immune alterations persisted despite supportive parenting for over 80% of the adolescents’ lives.