The pandemic of pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused great pressure and resulted in tragic consequences to the global public health and medical system. A massive Coronavirus Disease 2019 vaccination campaign is underway worldwide. 1 Although pregnant women are prone to a higher risk of COVID-19, clinical trials for the vaccines excluded pregnant and lactating women. Maternal infection may not only lead to premature delivery, abortion, and other adverse pregnancy outcomes but also increase the possibility of infection after childbirth. 2,3 Epidemiological studies have found that prenatal infection is a risk factor for a range of neurological disorders, accompanied by an increased risk of schizophrenia, working memory defects, and executive dysfunction. 4 Maternal infection disrupts the immune balance between the maternal and fetal environments, leading to changes in the immune profile in the developing brain. 5 The infection of pregnant women leads to the increase in cytokines such as interleukin-6, which can pass through the placenta and act on placental cells to stimulate the production of downstream
BackgroundImmunocompromised individuals have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection and severe outcomes, but we pay less attention to these people. Athymic nude mice are a murine strain with a spontaneous deficiency of the Foxn1 gene, which can result in thymic degeneration or its absence, leading to immunosuppression and a decrease in the number of T cells, and are widely used in preclinical evaluations of disease in immunocompromised populations.MethodsWe investigated the protection of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac) against the infection of wild‐type SARS‐CoV‐2 (WH‐09) or Omicron variant utilizing a hybrid‐type nude‐hACE2 mouse model.ResultsCompared with nude‐hACE2/W mice, the viral load in the brain and lung tissue of nude‐hACE2 mice (nude‐hACE2/WV) infected with WH‐09 after vaccination significantly decreased, and the histopathological changes were also reduced. The viral load in the brain and lung tissue of nude‐hACE2 mice (nude‐hACE2/OV) infected with the Omicron variant after vaccination was lower than that in nude‐hACE2/O, but histopathological symptoms did not improve significantly.ConclusionCoronaVac provides some protection against infection of both WH‐09 and the Omicron variant in the nude‐hACE2 mice. Our findings aimed to provide a reference for vaccination against SARS‐CoV‐2 in immunocompromised populations.
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