Caesarean Birth May Affect Immune System

Genetic changes after Caesarean section may explain increased risk of developing disease.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that babies born by planned Caesarean section experience changes to the DNA pool in their white blood cells, which could be connected to altered stress levels during this method of delivery. The findings, presented in the July issue of the scientific journal Acta Paediatrica, may be a part of an explanation for why babies born by Caesarean section have an increased risk of developing certain disease in later life.

"Our results provide the first pieces of evidence that early so called epigenetic programming of the immune system during birth may have a role to play", says Professor Mikael Norman at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology.

Caesarean section delivery is rapidly increasing worldwide and is currently the most common surgical procedure among women of child-bearing age. Until recently, the long-term consequences of this mode of delivery had not been studied. It is now thought that early genetic changes could explain why people delivered by Caesarean section in later life are more susceptible to immunological diseases such as diabetes, asthma or leukaemia than those born by normal vaginal deliveries.

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Schlinzig T, Johansson S, Gunnar A, Ekström TJ, Norman M.
"Epigenetic modulation at birth, altered DNA-methylation in white blood cells after Caesarean section"
Acta Paediatrica 2009, 98, 1096-99 (Invited commentary on pp 1082-84 in same issue of the journal).

Contact: Sabina Bossi, Press Officer, Tel :+46 (0)8-524 860 66, E-mail: sabina.bossi@ki.se

Web Source: Karolinska Institutet