Maternal stress triggers early-life eczema through fetal mast cell programming

Abstract

Prenatal stress (PS) is a repeated exposure to aversive situations during pregnancy, including high emotional strain, which is suspected to affect homeostatic systems in infants. Paediatric eczema develops quickly after birth at flexural sites subjected to continuous mechanical constraints1,2. Although epidemiological studies have suggested an association between PS and a higher risk of eczema in children3–6, no causative biological link has yet been identified. Here we show that eczema at birth originates from molecular dysregulations of neuroimmune circuits in utero, triggered by fluctuations in the maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. We found that offspring of stressed pregnant dams have dysregulated mast cells and skin-projecting neurons and quickly develop eczema in response to harmless mechanical friction. We demonstrated that PS transiently modulates amniotic fluid corticosterone concentrations, which directly alters the activation program of skin mast cells expressing the glucocorticoid receptor Nr3c1 and the adjacent sensory neurons conveying mechanosensation. Therapeutic normalization of maternal corticosterone concentrations or genetic depletion of Mcpt5+ mast cells during stressed gestation prevents fetal immune dysregulation and protects against eczema development after birth. Our findings support a new model in which early-onset paediatric eczema originates from dysregulations in the fetal immune system, caused by fluctuations in maternal glucocorticoids induced by stress. Prenatal stress triggers molecular dysregulations in fetal neuroimmune circuits, leading to altered mast cell and sensory neuron function, which predisposes offspring to develop eczema in response to otherwise harmless mechanical friction after birth.