Functional assessment of CD2, CD3 and CD28 on the surface of peripheral blood T‐cells from infants at low versus high genetic risk for atopy

Recent studies from several laboratories suggest that the rate of postnatal maturation of T‐cell function(s) associated with in vitro activation may be slower in children at high genetic risk for atopy (HR), compared to their normal (low risk; LR) counterparts. The present study compared the in vitro activity of the function‐associated surface molecules CD2, CD3 and CD28 in panels of 27 HR and 13 LR infants, with a reference panel of 10 adults, employing assay systems involving T‐cell stimulation with MoAbs against these molecules. The response maxima induced by saturating levels of the MoAbs were equivalent in all 3 groups, but T‐cells from the HR infants required 10–50 fold higher levels of anti‐CD3 stimulation to attain their maximum response, relative to adults (p = 0.02); T‐cells from LR infants were also less responsive to anti‐CD3 than adults, but these differences were smaller and did not attain statistical significance. It is suggested that these differences are attributable to varying proportions of competent T‐memory cells (which respond to low levels of anti‐CD3) in PBL from these populations, the postnatal accumulation of which proceeds slowest in the HR group. Copyright © 1995, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved