💡 Researchers discuss how early-life exposures associated with an increased risk of childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), that can induce gut microbiome instability and perturb its maturation, which in turn can jeopardize the integrity of the immune network.
📌 ALL is a type of blood cancer that starts from white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow. Children with ALL at the time of diagnosis may have a delayed maturation of the gut microbiome compared with healthy children. Evolution of the main genetic subtypes of B cell precursor-ALL (BCP-ALL), account for the majority of childhood ALL cases and have a peak incidence around the ages of 2–6 years.
📌 The risk of BCP-ALL is increased by caesarean section birth, brief or absent breastfeeding and paucity of social contacts during infancy. These early-life exposures were shown to have a profound impact on the acquisition and robustness of the neonatal and infant gut microbiome, which in turn is recognized as fundamental to the maturation of the naive immune network of infants.
📌 Gut SCFA-producing bacterial taxa in the pathogenesis of childhood ALL is highly important. A delayed enrichment of these taxa during the first year of life, can compromise early immune training and shift the TH17/Treg cell balance towards dysregulated, pro-inflammatory responses. Over time, this can additionally compromise the integrity of the gut epithelial barrier and increase host susceptibility to opportunistic pathogens.
🔴 Researchers in this study discuss how early-life exposures are associated with an increased risk of childhood ALL. They further propose methods to delineate the role of the gut microbiome in BCP-ALL pathogenesis.
Link to the article: go.nature.com/464BGmZ
Published On: /06/2023
