“One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood.”
Agatha Christie
Surely we are all convinced of that. But this issue of IMMpress Magazine should also convince us that a childhood with the right pre- and post-natal exposures is key to a happy immune system.
I learned so much about the burgeoning field of pediatric immunity from this stellar issue. Zi Yan Chen gives us some terms of reference on this interesting area of research before we hear from Baweleta Isho on how the immune system handles the maternal fetal interface. We learn about vertical transmission of pathogens, but also of the microbiota and how this can be different based on mode of birth (Tianning Yu). We also hear from Rafeed Khan about the advantages of breastmilk for early life immunity, and a book review on “The Baby and the Biome: Nurturing Nature’s Connection” by Alara Tuncer provides a peak at the parent’s perspective on the impact of the environment on a child’s health. As a self-confessed cat lady, one of my favourite articles was by Sila Usta “Your fur baby: an early immune system’s best friend” where she argues that early introduction of pets can provide some protection against the development of dander allergies. But let’s not stop at childhood – Leon Baronijan reminds us that puberty is more than acne and angst – sex hormones have a tremendous impact on the immune system which has implications for autoimmunity risk.
Although we are learning a great deal about how early life environments shape the immune system, let us not forget the impact of genetics. Jennifer Sahadeo does a great job at explaining inborn errors of immunity and advances for diagnosing and treating them. Moreover, Jennifer Ahn reminds us about the importance of childhood vaccination and an alarming drop in vaccination rates due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing vaccine hesitancy among parents. While vaccines have allowed us to nearly forget the scourge of preventable childhood illnesses such as Polio and Diptheria, Nasana Vaidya explains the additional benefits of vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus for prevention of some anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers.
Lastly, it was so nice to hear from Dr. Dilan Dissanayake. Interviewed by Arwa Hilal, we catch up with what Dilan is up to as a staff rheumatologist at SickKids. I was lucky to be a co-author on Dilan’s paper “NFkB controls the functional maturation of dendritic cells and prevents the activation of autoreactive T cells” (Nature Medicine 2011) which he published while he was in Dr. Pam Ohashi’s lab. Our students certainly go on to do some great things – like looking after the immune systems of Canadian children.
Go ahead and channel your inner child as you enjoy this latest issue of IMMpress. Congratulations to the team for such stellar work!
Jennifer Gommerman
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