Perinatal Whole Blood Zinc Status and Cytokines, Adipokines, and Other Immune Response Proteins.

Julie Nyholm Kyvsgaard,Flemming Pociot,Christina Ellervik,Jannet Svensson,Steffen Ullitz Thorsen,Christian Bressen Pipper,Emilie Bundgaard Lindkvist

doi:10.3390/nu11091980

Abstract

(1) Background: Zinc is an essential micronutrient and zinc deficiency is associated with immune dysfunction. The neonatal immune system is immature, and therefore an optimal neonatal zinc status may be important. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association between neonatal whole blood (WB)-Zinc content and several immune markers. (2) Methods: In total, 398 healthy newborns (199 who later developed type 1 diabetes and 199 controls) from the Danish Newborn Screening Biobank had neonatal dried blood spots (NDBS) analyzed for WB-Zinc content and (i) cytokines: Interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and transforming growth factor beta; (ii) adipokines: leptin and adiponectin; (iii) other immune response proteins: C-reactive protein (CRP), and mannose-binding lectin (MBL), and soluble triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cells1 (sTREM-1). WB-Zinc content was determined using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. For each analyte, the relative change in mean level was modelled by a robust log-normal model regression. (3) Results: No association was found between WB-Zinc content and all the immune response markers in either the unadjusted or adjusted models overall or when stratifying by case status. (4) Conclusions: In healthy Danish neonates, WB-Zinc content was not associated with cytokines, adipokines, CRP, MBL or sTREM, which does not indicate a strong immunological function of neonatal zinc status.

Highlights

Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace metal for a plethora of metalloenzymes involved in growth, cognition, reproduction, and immune function [1]
No association between neonatal whole blood (WB)-Zinc content and cytokines, adipokines and other proteins involved in immune response were found in the unadjusted and adjusted analyzes without correction for multiple testing (Table 2)
We did not find any association between neonatal whole blood zinc (WB-Zinc) content and levels of cytokines (i.e., IL-1β, IL-4, interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IFN-γ, TNF-α, and TGF-β), adipokines and other proteins involved in the immune response (i.e., C-reactive protein (CRP), mannose-binding lectin (MBL), and soluble triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cells1 (sTREM-1)) in healthy newborns

Summary

Introduction

Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace metal for a plethora of metalloenzymes involved in growth, cognition, reproduction, and immune function [1]. Zinc deficiency is associated with impaired growth and cognition [9], dysregulation and impairment of both the adaptive and innate immune system [6,10,11], systemic inflammation [11], and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases [6]. These harmful effects have been shown to be reversible, as zinc supplementation restores or even improves immune function [6]

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Conclusion