Prenatal exposure to bisphenols, immune responses in cord blood and infantile eczema: A nested prospective cohort study in China

Xue-Ning Li; Dan Wu; Ying Liu; Shuang-Shuang Zhang; Fu-Lin Tian; Qi Sun; Wei Wei; Xia Cao; Li-Hong Jia

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112987

Prenatal exposure to bisphenols, immune responses in cord blood and infantile eczema: A nested prospective cohort study in China

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Nov 13:228:112987. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112987. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xue-Ning Li¹, Dan Wu², Ying Liu³, Shuang-Shuang Zhang³, Fu-Lin Tian⁴, Qi Sun², Wei Wei², Xia Cao⁵, Li-Hong Jia⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China; Department of Pediatrics, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110032, China.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China.
³ Department of Pediatrics, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110032, China.
⁴ Center for Public Health Safety Risk Assessment, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China.
⁵ Department of obstetrics, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110032, China.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China; Liaoning Key Laboratory of Obesity and Glucose/Lipid Associated Metabolic Diseases, Shenyang 110122, China. Electronic address: lhjia@cmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 34781129
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112987

Abstract

Increasing evidence shows that human exposure to bisphenols can increase the risk of allergic disease, such as child asthma. However, the mechanism by which exposure to bisphenols causes allergic disease is unclear. In addition, the effects of exposure to bisphenols during pregnancy on infantile eczema have been poorly studied. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of bisphenols (BPA, BPF and BPS) exposure during pregnancy on immune cells in cord blood, and on the occurrence of infantile eczema. 111 mother-child pairs with urine samples from pregnant women and cord blood were recruited from a birth cohort established in February 2019 in Shenyang, China. The levels of urinary bisphenols and Th1-, Th2-, Treg- and Th17-related genes, and cytokines in cord blood, as well as the incidence of infantile eczema at 6 and 12 months follow up were determined. Our results show that BPA, BPF and BPS were detected in 100%, 63.1% and 46.8% of the urine samples, respectively. The median concentration of urine specific gravity adjusted BPA (SG-BPA) was 7.46 ng/mL. High SG-BPA levels during pregnancy was independently associated with increased risk of infantile eczema (adjusted OR = 2.731, 95%CI: 1.064-7.012, P = 0.037). Higher levels of FOXP3 gene in cord blood had a significantly lower risk of developing eczema in infants (adjusted OR=0.430, 95%CI: 0.190-0.972, P = 0.042). However, BPS and BPF levels were not associated with infantile eczema. FOXP3 gene levels in cord blood mediated the relationship between SG-BPA levels during pregnancy and infantile eczema (indirect effect: β = 0.350 [CI:0.011,1.077]). Our findings indicate that high levels of BPA exposure during pregnancy increase the risk of infantile eczema, which may be associated with down-regulation of FOXP3 gene expression in cord blood.

Keywords: Birth cohort; Bisphenols; Eczema; Infant; Pregnant women.