Introduction
Environmental exposure and maternal status during pregnancy have a great
impact on a child’s health and susceptibility to diseases from childhood
until adulthood.1 Nutrition, pollution, microbiome,
and other environmental factors that interact with the genetic
background can reshape the fetal genetics and
epigenetics.2,3 These genetic and epigenetic factors
can leave long-term influences on a patient’s immunological,
cardiovascular, and other systemic functioning and can lead to diseases
later in life.4,5 Many birth cohort studies have
investigated the link between perinatal exposure and the outcomes of
atopic diseases in an attempt to identify possible predictive
biomarkers.6,7
Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) interaction is an important pathway in
inducing apoptosis. However, soluble Fas ligand, cleaved from the
membrane-formed Fas ligand by matrix metalloproteinases, participates in
the inflammatory reactions of rheumatic and allergic
diseases.8,9 The concentration of soluble FasL in
blood and bronchial lavage fluid has been noted to increase in asthmatic
and allergic patients, especially during the allergy
season.10,11 Soluble FasL in cord blood has been
associated with atopic dermatitis in children.12 In
this Prediction of Allergies in Taiwanese Children (PATCH) birth cohort
study, we measured the soluble FasL concentration in cord blood and
investigated its association with allergic outcomes and lung function in
7-year-old children.