Maternal and cord blood miR-223 expression associates with prenatal tobacco smoke exposure and low regulatory T-cell numbers

Conclusions: For the first time, we show that maternal tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy correlates with the level of miRNA-223 expression in blood, with an effect on children's cord blood Treg cell numbers and subsequent allergy risk.

Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - August 26, 2013 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Gunda Herberth, Mario Bauer, Michaela Gasch, Denise Hinz, Stefan Röder, Sven Olek, Tibor Kohajda, Ulrike Rolle-Kampczyk, Martin von Bergen, Ulrich Sack, Michael Borte, Irina Lehmann, Lifestyle and Environmental Factors and Their Influence on Newborns All Tags: Mechanisms of allergy and clinical immunology Source Type: research