Poster #66 - Developmental Properties of Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Cytokines During Late Adolescence

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

The impact of childhood adversity on adolescent immune function has become a major topic of interest, but progress in this area is limited by a dearth of information on the “basics” of early lifespan immunity—including the developmental properties of various pro- and anti-inflammatory markers and their interrelation. For example, little has been documented on developmental trajectories, longitudinal stability, and emerging sex differences of most inflammatory markers. This is not surprising given that many studies that include measures of immunity in the early life-span rely on a single assessment of immunity.

The current study addressed this gap in research by assessing pro- and anti-inflammatory markers over time in a sample of adolescents. N=175 participants (58% female) were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study. 65% of the sample was European American; the remainder primarily African American. Inflammatory markers were assessed up to four times per person (at approximately ages 15, 16, 17, and 18+ years). Participants were asked to participate in assessments when free of any known recent infections or immunizations and to fast from food, strenuous exercise, non-prescription medication, and substance use prior to the laboratory visit. Blood samples were obtained by trained and experienced research technicians. Several peripheral inflammatory markers were assayed with multiplex assays (EMD Millipore, Burlington MA and RND Systems, Minneapolis MN) using the Luminex SD (Luminex, Austin TX). For the purpose of this study, analyses focused on the proinflammatory interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and also on the anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10). Data on the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) will also be available by Spring 2019.

Preliminary analyses showed that the values of several inflammatory markers increased between ages 15 to 17 (e.g., IL-6, IL-10; see Figure 1). These increases did not, however, extend into young adulthood. Several mean differences by sex and also childhood socioeconomic status were observed, although these were not pervasive.

Each inflammatory marker displayed considerable year-to-year stability. Stabilities were moderate in size for some markers (e.g., IL-1β, IFN-γ, TNF-α), and high for others (e.g., Il-6, Il-10). Indeed, for the latter two markers, previous values explained a large percent of the variance in current values. Pooled correlations among the different inflammatory markers across all observations are shown in Table 1. The majority of correlations among the pro-inflammatory markers were moderate to high in size. In addition, the anti-inflammatory marker IL-10 was generally moderately positively correlated with pro-inflammatory markers.

Future analyses will explore the use of factor-analytic and latent class techniques for data aggregation. In addition, we will employ multilevel modeling to examine the developmental properties of inflammatory markers. Moreover, ratios of pro- and anti-inflammatory markers will be examined to better capture systemic properties of the immune system. Finally, inflammatory markers will be linked to BMI and other anthropomorphic measures assessed during the laboratory visits, and, in the future, also with psychological and health behavior data from this study.

Our results provide basic—yet crucial—information needed by the budding field of developmental psychoneuroimmunology.

Authors

• Lilly Shanahan, Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich
  Presenting Author

• Annekatrin Steinhoff, Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jessica Dollar, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zachary Kincaid, Department of Kinesiology
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Calkins, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Phillips Keane, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lenka Shriver, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laurie Wideman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author