Stereotypic expansion of Tregulatory and Th17 cells during infancy is disrupted by HIV exposure and gut epithelial damage.
Few studies have investigated immune cell ontogeny throughout the neonatal and early paediatric period, where there is often increased vulnerability to infections. Here, we evaluated the dynamics of two critical T cell populations, regulatory (Treg) cells and Th17 cells, over the first 36 weeks of life. Firstly, we observed distinct CD4+ T cells phenotypes between cord blood and peripheral blood, collected within 12 hours of birth, showing that cord blood is not a surrogate for newborn blood. Secondly, both Treg and Th17 cells expanded in a synchronous fashion over 36 weeks of life. However, comparing infants exposed to HIV in utero, but remaining uninfected (iHEU), with HIV-unexposed uninfected control infants (iHUU), there was a lower frequency of peripheral blood Treg cells at birth, resulting in a delayed expansion, and then declining again at 36 weeks. Focusing on birth events, we found that Treg cells co-expressing CCR4 and 4{beta}7 inversely correlated with plasma concentrations of CCL17 (the ligand for CCR4) and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (iFABP), IL-7 and CCL20. This was in contrast to Th17 cells, which showed a positive association with these plasma analytes. Thus, despite the stereotypic expansion of both cell subsets over the first few months of life, there was a disruption in the balance of Th17 to Treg cells at birth likely being a result of gut damage and homing of newborn Treg cells from the blood circulation to the gut. Key pointsO_LIPhenotypic differences between cord and birth peripheral blood CD4 cells. C_LIO_LISynchronous increase of Th17-Treg cells is disrupted by HIV/ART exposure. C_LIO_LIIntrauterine HIV exposure was associated with epithelial gut damage. C_LI