Epigenetic consequences of early life H1N1 infection

In this study we demonstrated that early life H1N1 infection modulated cytokine secretion after a viral re-exposure in adulthood. This appears to be a learned or programmed innate immune response as a similar effect was observed after heterotypic adult re-stimulation with polyI:C and homoptypic polyI:C programming and restimulation. Reduced representation epigenome sequencing identified a network of methylation changes common to both early life polyI:C and H1N1 programming through which ELIC left a mechanistic ‘trace’ that remained visible throughout life.