Impaired Tumor-Necrosis-Factor-?-driven Dendritic Cell Activation Limits Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Protection from Allergic Inflammation in Infants (Immunity)

Children have a higher risk of developing asthma in low-LPS `clean` environments than adults. Bachus et al. demonstrate that infant mice require higher doses of LPS than adult mice to prevent Th2-dependent allergic responses because of the decreased ability to induce LPS-driven TNF-? production and TNFR-mediated CD11b+ dendritic cell activation for Th2 cell suppression.