Sustained maternal antibody and cellular immune responses in pregnant women infected with Zika virus and mother to infant transfer of Zika‐specific antibodies

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently become a major concern worldwide due to the causative association with spontaneous abortion and congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). 1-3 CZS is characterized by impaired fetal growth, microcephaly, arthrogryposis, developmental delay, hearing and vision impairments, and other birth defects with significant lifelong neurodevelopmental sequelae. Symptoms

Assessment of Maternal and Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load, Transplacental Antibody Transfer, and Placental Pathology in Pregnancies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The timing of our study with the height of the first wave of the pandemic in Boston affords a unique opportunity to examine transfer of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies due to third-trimester native infection. The limited data available for Zika and Dengue virus infection in pregnancy demonstrate lower placental transfer ratios than have been described for influenza, pertussis, and measles vaccination but still higher ratios than we observed, ranging from 0.9 to approximately 1.2 . Unlike our study, many studies on Zika and Dengue virus are unable to pinpoint the timing of maternal infection to a particular trimester, owing to their enrollment in endemic areas and use of antibody testing to determine infection.…”

“…The limited data available for Zika and Dengue virus infection in pregnancy demonstrate lower placental transfer ratios than have been described for influenza, pertussis, and measles vaccination 43 , 44 , 45 but still higher ratios than we observed, ranging from 0.9 to approximately 1.2. 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 Unlike our study, many studies on Zika and Dengue virus are unable to pinpoint the timing of maternal infection to a particular trimester, owing to their enrollment in endemic areas and use of antibody testing to determine infection. The large size of our cohort and the presence of robust contemporaneous controls with RT-PCR results negative for SARS-CoV-2 permit dissection of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 from other pandemic-related exposures that could influence maternal-fetal immune response 68 , 69 , 70 is a strength of this study.…”

Immunological assessment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy from diagnosis to delivery: A multicentre prospective study

“…Longitudinal assessment of antibody response to other viral infections in pregnancy have shown that CMV IgM has been shown to peak during the first 1 to 3 months after primary infection in pregnant women and then persist at a low level for 18 to 39 weeks [ 28 ]. The zika virus specific IgG/IgM antibody has also been demonstrated to be sustained throughout pregnancy and postpartum [ 29 ] In SARS-CoV-1 infected patients, 90% and 50% have been shown to maintain IgG antibodies for two and three years respectively [ 3 ]. The transfer of SARS-CoV-2 is impacted by the timing of infection and is compromised in the third trimester.…”

Compromised SARS-CoV-2-specific placental antibody transfer

“…Less is known about placental transfer of disease-specific antibodies in the setting of maternal acute infection. Maternal:cord transfer ratios of~1.0 have been noted in maternal Dengue (DENV) or Zika (ZIKV) acute viral infections (Perret et al, 2005;Castanha et al, 2019) in contrast to ratios of 1.5 or greater typically observed for vaccinatable pathogens, such as influenza and pertussis (Gonç alves et al, 1999;Heininger et al, 2009;Munoz et al, 2014;Castanha et al, 2019;Singh et al, 2019;Collier et al, 2020). These lower-than-expected transfer ratios suggest that features of de novo antibodies generated in the setting of acute infection, such as glycosylation profile, may drive less efficient placental transfer.…”