Sanne Hoeks

General Discussion 103 7 GENERAL DISCUSSION It is clear that immune ontogeny is an emerging field. Fetal life and early infancy are recognized as a critical period to shape the immune system for life. Slowly the neonatal immune system changes its regulatory responses into effector responses. Genes, environmental factors and the epigenome will influence this maturation process and different developmental trajectories might be initiated leading to disease pathways. This concept has been recognized in the 1000 days campaign and the WHO’s Every Newborn Action Plan but pathophysiological mechanisms supporting this theory are mostly unidentified.