The Impact of Prenatal and Infant Undernutrition on Early Life Immunity

  • 12k

    Total downloads

  • 274k

    Total views and downloads

Submit your idea

Select the journal/section where you want your idea to be submitted:

Submit your manuscript summarySubmit your manuscript

About this Research Topic

Submission closed

Background

Undernutrition is estimated to contribute to nearly 50% of global annual deaths in children under 5 years. Undernutrition can have an acute, chronic, or acute-on-chronic presentation and refers to children who are underweight for their age or length, too short for their age (stunted), sub-optimally breastfed, or deficient in key macro - or micronutrients. Well-established epidemiological associations between undernutrition, infection, and an increased risk of death among young children, suggest that undernutrition dysregulates protective host responses to infectious challenges. Although limited, longitudinal data suggest that current regimes for nutritional rehabilitation are alone not sufficient to correct immunologic derangements associated with undernutrition. This indicates that undernutrition during early childhood may have a lasting negative impact on overall trajectories of health, growth and development. Moreover, maternal nutritional status, quantity and quality of breastmilk, the maternal vaginal and gastrointestinal microbiota, and maternal antimicrobial use may also have distinct long-term effects on infant and child immunity and health.

The mechanisms linking undernutrition to vulnerability to infectious pathogens in young children are not understood. There is some evidence that reduced gut barrier function leading to nutrient loss, chronic bacterial translocation, intestinal dysbiosis, derangements to cellular metabolism, altered regulation of inflammatory adipocytokines and immune activation may contribute to dysregulated immunity during early childhood. Importantly, although the impact of maternal obesity on infant immunity and long-term health has been an active area of study, less is understood on how maternal undernutrition during pregnancy alters subsequent infant immune development and function. Understanding the distinct mechanisms whereby maternal and infant undernutrition dysregulate immunity during early life is essential to the design of interventions that improve survival, growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes among highly vulnerable young children in low- and middle-income settings.

This Research Topic will provide novel insights into how maternal and infant undernutrition impact immunity within the first 5 years of childhood. Infant immunity will be considered broadly, including innate immune responses, antigen-specific T cell and B cell responses (including regulatory T cells), and biomarkers of innate and adaptive immune activation and exhaustion. Undernutrition may include wasting, oedematous malnutrition and stunting, as well as specific micronutrient defects and the effects of suboptimal breastfeeding. Studies focused on human cohorts, as well as those employing validated animal models that focus on specific mechanistic pathways, are welcome.

We invite the submission of Original Research, Review, and Commentary articles covering, but not limited to, the follow sub-topics:

1. Impact of undernutrition during pregnancy and/or early life on acute and longitudinal childhood immune responses
2. Undernutrition and its impact on the infant gut microbiota, inflammation and early childhood immune responses
3. Impact of maternal undernutrition on vaginal and gut microbiomes, and subsequent associations with infant gut microbiome and early childhood immune responses
4. Epigenetic changes associated with maternal or infant undernutrition, and associated aberrations in early childhood immune responses
5. Impact of undernutrition on infant cellular metabolism and associated early childhood immune responses
6. The influence of suboptimal breastfeeding, breastmilk quantity and quality, on infant immune development
7. Animal models examining impact of undernutrition on host gut microbiome, epigenome, cellular metabolism, and subsequent responses to infectious challenge

Keywords: infant, nutritional status, immunity, microbiota, maternal nutritional physiological phenomena, milk human

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic editors

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

    In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

     

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

     

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

     

Participating Journals

Impact

  • 274kTopic views
  • 261kArticle views
  • 12kArticle downloads
View impact