Sanne Hoeks

Chapter 7 116 CONCLUSION To conclude, the neonatal period is an indisputably important and highly dynamic period since sensory inputs influence developmental trajectories in this non-redundant timeframe and will have long term health consequences. In this thesis, we studied T cell regulatory mechanisms during this crucial period and it is pitched that immune homeostasis in early life is (partly) achieved by the increased ability of neonatal immunity to induce adaptive immune tolerance and that innate cells play an important role in driving this mechanism. Above, we discussed the broader context of our data. Postnatal maturation of immunocompetence in all mammalian species originates from the microbiome of the gastrointestinal tract and early gut dysbiosis is associated with a perturbation of the stereotypic developmental trajectory. Therefore, destruction of the composition of the microbiome with unnecessary antibiotic treatment should be avoided since this will disturb proper immune development. The overarching aim of future research is to provide an alternative technology for a timely and untargeted identification of pathogens causing sepsis coupled with a stratification strategy and search for predictive biomarkers on the host side in order to tailor treatment strategies to the neonates needs.