Maternal Immunoglobulin E and Childhood Leukemia

Abstract

Childhood leukemia, particularly acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), has long been hypothesized to be affected by abnormal immune responses to microbial challenges stemming from a lack of immune modulation in early childhood. Studies of allergies suggest that a child's immune development may be modulated by maternal immune status. We conducted a study to explore the relationship between maternal immunoglobulin E (IgE) and childhood leukemia and to investigate whether maternal immune status can influence childhood leukemia risk. Serum total and specific IgE (respiratory and food) were measured in biological mothers of 352 children (193 healthy controls and 159 leukemia cases, including 139 ALL cases) ages <8 years who were enrolled in the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study. Odds ratios associated with maternal IgE were calculated using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for child's age, sex, race/ethnicity, and annual household income. A positive association between childhood leukemia or ALL and elevated levels of maternal serum total IgE was observed, especially among Hispanics. In addition, a positive association was observed between childhood leukemia or ALL and maternal respiratory or food IgE status. These results suggest that maternal immune function may play a crucial role in the etiology of childhood leukemia, although additional studies need to be conducted to confirm the results of this study and provide a perspective on mechanisms.

Profound Deficit of IL10 at Birth in Children Who Develop Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

“…Schaub et al reported an increased induction of IL10 and Foxp3 in cord blood mononuclear cells among children with non-atopic mothers, suggesting that children with atopic mothers may have a decreased capacity to respond to microbial challenge (3). We previously reported that an elevated level of maternal IgE was associated with an increased risk of childhood leukemia (5), although we did not find any correlation between maternal IgE and neonatal IL10 level in the current analysis. We measured IL10 levels at baseline rather than after infectious challenge which may account for the discordance.…”

“…Little correlation was found between maternal IgE levels, assessed previously (5), and the levels of the five neonatal cytokines (Spearman correlation coefficients ranged from -0.09 to 0.10).…”

“…Detailed recruitment process has been described previously (5). Briefly, subjects of this analysis were recruited by the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study (NCCLS).…”

“…The eligibility criteria for all subjects are: 1) being a resident of the study area; 2) being younger than 15 years old at case diagnosis (reference date for the matched controls); 3) having at least one English- or Spanish-speaking parent or guardian; and 4) having not been previously diagnosed with cancer. We published previously on the association between maternal IgE and childhood leukemia using 139 ALL cases and 193 controls recruited by the NCCLS between August 2000 and December 2007 (5). We selected the study subjects from these subjects in order to investigate the correlation between neonatal cytokine and maternal IgE in addition to evaluating the association between neonatal cytokine profiles and childhood ALL.…”

Allergy and risk of hematologic malignancies: Associations and mechanisms

“…Similarly, higher maternal serum immunoglobulin E, an indicator of maternal allergy status, was associated with a higher risk of childhood ALL [29].…”