The findings of a new study support a growing body of evidence that suggests that pregnant women who contract the new coronavirus pass protective antibodies to their newborns.
A study conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name of the virus that causes COVID-19, can cross the placenta – even when the mother only had asymptomatic symptoms. to the virus. Furthermore, the researchers said, the concentration of antibodies found in the blood of newborns was similar to the concentration found in the blood of their mothers.
Interestingly, the researchers also found that women who were infected with the new virus in early pregnancy transmitted even more antibodies to the fetus compared to those who were later infected. (iStock)
(iStock)
Interestingly, the researchers also found that women who were infected with the new virus in early pregnancy transmitted even more antibodies to the fetus compared to those who were later infected.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, may help to clarify when pregnant women should receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the researchers said.
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“In general, our findings are consistent with what we know about the transfer of antibodies across the placenta to other viruses and should contribute to the discussion of whether and when to vaccinate pregnant women against SARS-CoV-2,” said the senior co-author. Scott Hensley, Ph.D., in a statement. Hensley is also an associate professor of microbiology at Penn Medicine and a member of the Penn Institute for Immunology.
To arrive at these results, the researchers looked for evidence of antibodies in blood samples collected from more than 1,400 women and their newborns. They found that 83 women had “significant levels” of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, with 87% of newborns of these women also having significant levels of these antibodies in blood samples taken from the umbilical cord when they were born.
“The study found no evidence that the antibodies were caused by a fetal infection, indicating that the antibodies are likely to have crossed the placenta of the mother’s blood into the fetal circulation,” says a press release about the results.
Antibodies to immunoglobulin G (IgG) – the most common class of antibodies in the blood – appear to transfer “readily” across the placenta, with the levels of these specific antibodies in newborns being the same as those found in mothers.
“However, a class of larger antibodies, known as IgM antibodies, which tend to be produced at the beginning of an infection and are not known to cross the placenta, were not detected in any umbilical cord blood samples,” the researchers noted. . “Because babies have some ability to produce their own IgM antibodies, the absence of these antibodies also suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself did not cross the placenta and infect them.”
“This transfer appears to be quite efficient. In some cases, the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the newborn’s blood was even higher than that of the mother,” said senior study co-author Karen Puopolo, MD , Ph.D., a neonatologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and head of the Newborn Medicine Section at the Pennsylvania Hospital, in a statement.
The team’s findings support previous evidence that pregnant women can transmit protective antibodies against the virus to fetuses. In December, a study in Singapore found that five babies born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy were born with antibodies to the coronavirus.
Still, studies on the effects of COVID-19 may have on pregnant women and their babies are ongoing, with a recently published study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggesting that pregnant women who contract severe COVID-19 disease face an elevated risk. of death and premature birth compared to those with asymptomatic cases of the disease. These findings promoted similar conclusions made by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in November.
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The CDC and the World Health Organization recommend that pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine, with the latter recently reversing its position in this ongoing debate.
Although neither the Modern vaccine nor the one created by Pfizer-BioNTech has been specifically approved for use in pregnant women, “no safety concerns have been demonstrated in rats that received [the] The Modern COVID-19 vaccine before or during pregnancy, “notes the CDC on its website, adding that” studies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are ongoing. “