Prenatal vitamin D deficiency exposure leads to long-term changes in immune cell proportions.

Vitamin D deficiency is a common deficiency worldwide, particularly among women of reproductive age. During pregnancy, it increases the risk of immune-related diseases in offspring later in life. However, how the body remembers exposure to an adverse environment during development is poorly understood. Herein, we explore the effects of prenatal vitamin D deficiency on immune cell proportions in offspring using vitamin D deficient mice established by dietary manipulation. We found that prenatal vitamin D deficiency alters immune cell proportions in offspring by changing the transcriptional properties of genes downstream of vitamin D receptor signaling in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells of both the fetus and adults. Moreover, further investigations of the associations between maternal vitamin D levels and cord blood immune cell profiles from 75 healthy pregnant women and their term offspring also confirm that maternal vitamin D levels in the second trimester significantly affect immune cell proportions in the offspring. These findings imply that the differentiation properties of hematopoiesis act as long-term memories of prenatal vitamin D deficiency exposure in later life.

Ueda, K., Chin, S. S., Sato, N., Nishikawa, M., Yasuda, K., Miyasaka, N., ... Suzuki, M.

Ueda, Koki||Chin, Shu Shien||Sato, Noriko||Nishikawa, Miyu||Yasuda, Kaori||Miyasaka, Naoyuki||Bera, Betelehem Solomon||Chorro, Laurent||Doña-Termine, Reanna||Koba, Wade R||Reynolds, David||Steidl, Ulrich G||Lauvau, Gregoire||Greally, John M||Suzuki, Masako

Prenatal vitamin D deficiency exposure leads to long-term changes in immune cell proportions. Academic Article