Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that a mother's circadian rhythms can significantly influence her offspring's immune response, potentially predicting the risk of bacterial infections. This study, published in Science Advances, shows that maternal internal body clocks affect the baseline levels of inflammation biomarkers in their children, heightening their vulnerability to infections.
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Led by Alejandro Aballay, Ph.D., professor of Genetics and dean of the UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the findings reveal that variations in circadian timing can lead to immune response differences that are not attributed to genetics or environmental factors. Aballay noted that these results uncover a circadian mechanism that may explain why patients with similar genetic backgrounds respond differently to infections.
The research utilized fluorescent reporters to analyze immune system biomarkers in the model organism C. elegans before and after bacterial exposure. Despite being genetically similar, the organisms exhibited varying immune responses, illustrating a phenomenon known as phenotypic heterogeneity. The study revealed that some organisms with higher baseline inflammation biomarker expression were more prone to infections, pinpointing key regulatory targets in this pathway.
Most notably, the researchers determined that maternal circadian rhythms significantly influenced the baseline expression of the inflammation biomarker. Disruption of genes related to these internal clocks eliminated this influence, highlighting a crucial factor contributing to immune variability.
These findings raise important considerations regarding how circadian rhythms and other non-genetic elements may shape immune defenses, potentially explaining the disparate reactions observed in patients undergoing treatment. While further investigation is necessary, this research suggests that the circadian regulation observed in C. elegans could have broader implications for personalized medical approaches and infection prevention strategies in humans.
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Further details can be found in the complete paper published in Science Advances.