Abstract

The interaction of genetic and environmental contributions to immunological traits and their association with atopic disease remain unclear. Flow cytometry and in vitro cytokine responses were used to characterize immune profiles from 93 school-aged twin pairs. Using an established twin pair analytical strategy, the genetic and environmental influences on immunological traits were evaluated, along with their association with atopy. Our findings suggest strong genetic influence on several traits, particularly B cell abundance. In contrast, cytokine responses from in vitro stimulations appeared mainly shaped by environmental exposures. Regarding associations with atopy, greater abundance of both B cells and basophils were observed in atopic individuals as well as increased expression of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor. Genetic influence appeared central to regulating IgE receptor expression on basophils, whereas expression on dendritic cells instead appeared sensitive to environmental exposures. Identifying environmentally regulated immune traits may facilitate the development of targeted therapies to limit the impact of atopic disease in the future.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

7-18-2025

Volume

11

Issue

29

Funding Information

National Health and Medical Research Council / The University of Western Australia / Kids Research Institute Australia / Future Health Research and Innovation / Stan Perron Charitable Foundation / Simon Lee Foundation

PubMed ID

40668915

School

Graduate Research School

Grant Number

NHMRC Number : APP1063394

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Identifier

Deborah H. Strickland: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0114-4201

Comments

Leffler, J., Read, J. F., Mok, D., Serralha, M., Bosco, A., Holt, P. G., Saffery, R., & Strickland, D. H. (2025). Atopy-related immune profiles are subject to genetic influence as evaluated using school-aged twin pairs. Science Advances, 11(29). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads8033

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