Although young children generally experience mild symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2, severe acute and long-term complications can occur. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines elicit robust immunoglobulin profiles in children ages 5 years and older, and in adults, corresponding with substantial protection against hospitalizations and severe disease. Whether similar immune responses and humoral protection can be observed in vaccinated infants and young children, who have a developing and vulnerable immune system, remains poorly understood. To study the impact of mRNA vaccination on the humoral immunity of infant, we used a system serology approach to comprehensively profile antibody responses in a cohort of children ages 6 months to 5 years who were vaccinated with the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine (25 μg). Responses were compared with vaccinated adults (100 μg), in addition to naturally infected toddlers and young children. Despite their lower vaccine dose, vaccinated toddlers elicited a stronger functional antibody response than adults, including against variant of concerns (VOCs), without report of side effects. Moreover, mRNA vaccination was associated with a higher IgG3-dependent humoral profile against SARS-CoV-2 compared to natural infection, supporting that mRNA vaccination is effective at eliciting a robust antibody response in toddlers and young children.
Background:
Although parental preconception exposure to some phenols and phthalates have been associated with reduced birthweight, few studies have examined these chemicals as complex mixtures.
Methods:
We included 384 mothers and 211 fathers (203 couples) who gave birth to 384 singletons from a prospective cohort of couples seeking fertility evaluation. Urinary concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA), parabens, and 11 phthalate metabolites including those of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were examined. Birthweight was abstracted from delivery records. We used principal component analysis and Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) to examine maternal and paternal preconception mixtures in relation to singleton birthweight. We also fit couple-based BKMR with hierarchical variable selection to assess couples’ joint mixtures in relation to birthweight.
Results:
PC scores of maternal and paternal preconception low molecular weight phthalates factor, and paternal preconception DEHP-BPA factor were associated with reduced birthweight. In BKMR models, we found that maternal preconception monoethyl phthalate and BPA concentrations, and paternal preconception mono-n-butyl phthalate concentrations were inversely associated with birthweight when the remaining mixture components were held at their median concentrations. In couple-based BKMR models, paternal preconception biomarkers contributed more to couples’ joint effect on birthweight compared with maternal preconception biomarkers. A decreasing trend of birthweight was observed across quantiles of maternal, paternal, and couples’ total preconception mixture concentrations, respectively.
Conclusions:
Results from this preconception cohort of subfertile couples suggest a complex interplay between paternal and maternal preconception exposure to mixtures of nonpersistent chemicals, with both parental windows of exposure jointly contributing to reduced birthweight.
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