ABSTRACT
Extremely low gestational age newborns (ELGANs, <28 completed weeks of gestation) that exhibit fetal and neonatal systemic inflammatory responses are at increased risk for developmental adversity, especially if the inflammatory process is sustained. We evaluated pro-inflammatory cytokine patterns in whole blood of 1220 ELGANs on one or more of postnatal days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28. Protein concentrations were divided into quartiles within gestational week categories. We calculated odds ratios (OR) with 99 % confidence intervals (CI) for having a concentration in the top quartile for each protein given that the infant had a protein concentration in the top quartile 1 week or more earlier compared to infants who did not. ELGANs who have elevated systemic levels of IL-6R, TNF- α, or RANTES on their first postnatal day are approximately twice as likely to have elevated levels of these cytokines at the end of each of the first postnatal month. In some, this twofold risk increase persisted for the entire first postnatal month. In extremely preterm newborns, inflammatory processes can be sustained over weeks.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Leviton, A., et al. 2011. The relationship between early concentrations of 25 blood proteins and cerebral white matter injury in preterm newborns: the ELGAN study. Journal of Pediatrics 158(6): 897–903. e1-5.
Kuban, K.C., et al. 2014. Systemic inflammation and cerebral palsy risk in extremely preterm infants. Journal of Child Neurology 29(12): 1692–1698.
O’Shea, T.M., et al. 2012. Elevated concentrations of inflammation-related proteins in postnatal blood predict severe developmental delay at 2 years of age in extremely preterm infants. Journal of Pediatrics 160(3): 395–401. e4.
O’Shea, T.M., et al. 2014. Elevated blood levels of inflammation-related proteins are associated with an attention problem at age 24 mo in extremely preterm infants. Pediatric Research 75(6): 781–787.
Leviton, A., et al. 2011. Early postnatal blood concentrations of inflammation-related proteins and microcephaly two years later in infants born before the 28th post-menstrual week. Early Human Development 87(5): 325–330.
Dammann, O., and A. Leviton. 2014. Intermittent or sustained systemic inflammation and the preterm brain. Pediatric Research 75(3): 376–380.
Fichorova, R.N., et al. 2015. Systemic inflammation in the extremely low gestational age newborn following maternal genitourinary infections. American Journal of Reproductive Immunology 73(2): 162–174.
Fichorova, R.N., et al. 2008. Biological and technical variables affecting immunoassay recovery of cytokines from human serum and simulated vaginal fluid: a multicenter study. Analytical Chemistry 80(12): 4741–4751.
Hecht, J.L., et al. 2011. Relationship Between Neonatal Blood Protein Concentrations and Placenta Histologic Characteristics in Extremely Low GA Newborns. Pediatric Research 69(1): 68–73.
McElrath, T.F., et al. 2011. Blood protein profiles of infants born before 28 weeks differ by pregnancy complication. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 204(5): 418. e1-418 e12.
Leviton, A., et al. 2011. Persistence after birth of systemic inflammation associated with umbilical cord inflammation. Journal of Reproductive Immunology 90(2): 235–243.
Leviton, A., et al. 2012. Systemic responses of preterm newborns with presumed or documented bacteraemia. Acta Paediatrica 101: 355.
Bose, C.L., et al. 2013. Systemic inflammation associated with mechanical ventilation among extremely preterm infants. Cytokine 61(1): 315–322.
Leviton, A., et al. 2011. Inflammation-related proteins in the blood of extremely low gestational age newborns. The contribution of inflammation to the appearance of developmental regulation. Cytokine 53(1): 66–73.
Leviton, A., et al. 2012. Relationships among the concentrations of 25 inflammation-associated proteins during the first postnatal weeks in the blood of infants born before the 28th week of gestation. Cytokine 57(1): 182–190.
Dammann, O. 2007. Persistent neuro-inflammation in cerebral palsy: a therapeutic window of opportunity? Acta Paediatrica 96(1): 6–7.
Fleiss, B., and P. Gressens. 2012. Tertiary mechanisms of brain damage: a new hope for treatment of cerebral palsy? Lancet Neurology 11(6): 556–566.
Lin, C.Y., et al. 2010. Altered inflammatory responses in preterm children with cerebral palsy. Annals of Neurology 68(2): 204–212.
Pang, Y., et al. 2015. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist reduces neonatal lipopolysaccharide-induced long-lasting neurobehavioral deficits and dopaminergic neuronal injury in adult rats. International Journal of Molecular Medicine 16(4): 8635–8654.
Heneka, M.T., M.P. Kummer, and E. Latz. 2014. Innate immune activation in neurodegenerative disease. Nature Reviews Immunology 14(7): 463–477.
Fichorova, R.N., et al. 2011. Maternal microbe-specific modulation of inflammatory response in extremely low-gestational-age newborns. American Society for Microbiology 2(1): e00280–10.
Leviton, A., et al. 2011. Blood protein concentrations in the first two postnatal weeks associated with early postnatal blood gas derangements among infants born before the 28th week of gestation. The ELGAN Study. Cytokine 56(2): 392–398.
Martin, C.R., et al. 2013. Systemic inflammation associated with severe intestinal injury in extremely low gestational age newborns. Fetal and Pediatric Pathology 32(3): 222–234.
van der Burg, J.W., et al. 2013. Is maternal obesity associated with sustained inflammation in extremely low gestational age newborns? Early Human Development 89(12): 949–955.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was supported by The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS040069; NS040069), the National Eye Institute (EY021820), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD018655).
ELGAN Study participating institutions, site principal investigators, and colleagues: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield MA (Bhavesh Shah, Karen Christianson). Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston MA (Camilia R. Martin). Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA (Linda J. Van Marter). Children’s Hospital, Boston MA (Kathleen Lee, Anne McGovern, Jill Gambardella, Susan Ursprung, Ruth Blomquist). Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA (Robert Insoft, Jennifer G. Wilson, Maureen Pimental). New England Medical Center, Boston MA (Cynthia Cole, John Fiascone, Janet Madden, Ellen Nylen, Anne Furey). U Mass Memorial Health Center, Worcester, MA (Francis Bednarek [deceased], Mary Naples, Beth Powers). Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven CT (Richard Ehrenkranz, Joanne Williams). Forsyth Hospital, Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem NC (T. Michael O’Shea, Debbie Gordon, Teresa Harold). University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, Greenville NC (Stephen Engelke, Sherry Moseley). North Carolina Children’s Hospital, Chapel Hill NC (Carl Bose, Gennie Bose). DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids MI (Mariel Portenga, Dinah Sutton). Sparrow Hospital, Lansing MI (Padmani Karna, Carolyn Solomon). University of Chicago Hospital, Chicago IL (Michael D. Schreiber, Grace Yoon). William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak MI (Daniel Batton, Beth Kring).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dammann, O., Allred, E.N., Fichorova, R.N. et al. Duration of Systemic Inflammation in the First Postnatal Month Among Infants Born Before the 28th Week of Gestation. Inflammation 39, 672–677 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-015-0293-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-015-0293-z