Antibody Responses to Vaccines and PFAS Exposure in Early Childhood
Date
2021-04-22
Author
Advisors
Hoffman, Kate
Stapleton, Heather
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Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are human-made chemicals commonly incorporated
into personal care products, cookware, food packaging, and other industrial uses.
Previous studies have found that early life exposure to PFAS is associated with health
effects in both animal and human studies. There are growing concerns over the potential
health consequences such as immunological health associated with prenatal and early
childhood PFAS exposure. Studies have found that exposure to environmental stressors
during early periods of fetal growth and development may have implications for the
development of later life adverse health effects.
Few studies have assessed the association between PFAS exposure and waning immunity
to vaccines during early childhood. Of these studies, PFAS exposure has been inversely
associated with antibody responses to vaccines against infectious diseases such as
diphtheria and tetanus. Antibody responses to vaccines are commonly used as biomarkers
to assess immune function and development.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of PFAS exposures on critical
windows of immune function and maturation in early childhood. Early childhood immune
function was evaluated using antibody responses to the Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular
Pertussis (DTaP) vaccine. Multiple linear regression analyses (adjusted for child’s
age, biological sex of child, and maternal age) were conducted to evaluate the associations
between maternal and child serum PFAS levels in a North Carolina birth cohort (n=47)
and antibody responses to the DTaP vaccine in children (ages 3-6). Maternal serum
PFAS were used to assess prenatal exposure. Child serum was analyzed for diphtheria
and tetanus antibody titers as well as postnatal PFAS exposure.
Prenatal PFAS exposure measured from maternal serum was not significantly associated
with tetanus antibody titers; however, a positive and significant association (p<0.05)
was observed between prenatal PFNA exposure and diphtheria antibody titers. Postnatal
PFAS exposure was not significantly associated with diphtheria antibody titers. Postnatal
PFOA exposure was positively associated with tetanus antibody responses (p<0.05).
The results do not suggest that prenatal and early childhood exposure to PFAS is associated
with declines in immune responses to vaccines. Other factors associated with environmental
PFAS exposure and vaccine antibody responses should be explored to expand on these
findings.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22607Citation
Bao, Nancy (2021). Antibody Responses to Vaccines and PFAS Exposure in Early Childhood. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22607.Collections
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