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A mother with coronavirus can pass immunity to the baby she carries in her stomach, according to a groundbreaking discovery by pediatricians and immunologists in Philadelphia. This could mean that your newborn baby may be resistant to the infection. This research could help in the development of new vaccines against COVID-19.
- Scientists have studied many pregnant women in a hospital in Philadelphia, some of them were infected with COVID-19
- In most cases, mothers with coronavirus passed antibodies to their babies
- However, it is not known to what extent newborn infants are immune to the virus, and more research is needed
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
A mother suffering from COVID-19 transmits antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to her child
In the study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, researchers analyzed blood samples of more than 1470 pregnant women, 83 of whom tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Most of the babies born to these women also tested positive for the blood samples for antibodies, indicating that the babies became immune to the virus.
The amount of antibodies passed on to the baby largely depended on the type and amount of antibodies that were present in the mother and the point at which she contracted the coronavirus while she was already pregnant.
The longer the time between maternal infection and delivery, the greater the transfer of antibodies to the child’s body, wrote the authors of the study, pediatrician Dr. Karen Puopolo and immunologist Dr. Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
This relationship was noticeable regardless of whether the mother had symptoms of COVID-19 or the infection was asymptomatic.
This is an important discovery. Antibodies transferred from the mother may protect the newborn from the virus. However, more research is needed. Doctors want to find out what levels of antibodies a child needs to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, how long these antibodies can persist, and to what extent they block the virus’s ability to infect cells.
- Pregnancy may increase the risk of severe COVID-19
These tests may help to check to what extent the vaccine given to a pregnant woman will also protect the baby from the virus
Which antibodies cross the placenta?
In the study, the team focused on antibodies that attach to the SARS-CoV-2 virus spiny protein and disable the receptor-binding domain (RBD). The spike protein binds to the ACE2 receptor of the host cell. Antibodies against RBD are therefore crucial in neutralizing the coronavirus.
But as Dr. Flor Muñoz-Rivas, a specialist in childhood infectious diseases, explains, not all RBD antibodies can cross the placenta. Only some antibodies pass through the placenta – they can only reach the fetus IgG antibodies, also called immunoglobulin G, and to protect it with immune protection.
The study found that not all babies “received” protection from their mother. 72 of the 83 children of mothers infected with the coronavirus had IgG antibodies in the umbilical cord blood. Their amount depended on the concentration of IgG in their mothers’ blood.
The remaining 11 children tested negative for antibodies. There were two reasons. Six mothers had very low IgG levels. According to the authors of the study, they were most likely infected early enough that they did not have time to produce and transfer antibodies across the placenta. Eventually they produced less antibodies than average.
The remaining five mothers found IgM antibodies that cannot cross the placenta. ‘IgM antibodies appear early in the infection and then disappear when the infection goes away,’ explains Dr Muñoz-Rivas. Thus, the five mothers who tested positive for IgM were in the very early stages of the coronavirus infection.
- The woman gave birth to a child with COVID-19 antibodies
IgM antibodies detected in the body of the fetus or newborn indicate direct infection with the virus. In that study, no IgM for SARS-CoV-2 was detected in any umbilical cord blood samples, meaning that no fetus contracted the virus while it was in the uterus. However, studies do not exclude the possibility of fetal infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus before birth.
Vaccination in pregnancy and child protection
While the study shows that IgG antibodies can cross the placenta, scientists are still unable to answer the question of how well transferred antibodies protect against infection. The answer may come from watching babies born with the antibodies to see how long they will last and whether any of these babies will later become infected with COVID-19.
The authors of the study also wonder if the natural immune response of a baby in the womb can be compared to that of the mother and baby to the vaccine during pregnancy.
Currently, both the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that only women at high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or at high risk of severe disease should consider taking the vaccine during pregnancy, of course, after consulting your doctor first.
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With current vaccines during pregnancy, such as the tetanus or pertussis vaccines, antibodies are transmitted through the placenta and protect the baby for a while, but levels drop sharply by the time the baby is two months old.
The same may be the case with COVID-19 vaccines. The antibodies found in the cord blood would be the “starting point” – the pinnacle of antibodies that the baby gets. After that, the level will start to drop. Vaccination should occur during the second trimester to maximize the amount of antibodies passed to the fetus. After about 17 weeks of pregnancy, the placenta grows enough to pump a significant number of antibodies to the growing baby.
This may interest you:
- Where can I get vaccinated against COVID-19? List of vaccination points
- What does the COVID-19 vaccination look like? [WE EXPLAIN]
- Types of COVID-19 Vaccines. How is vector different from mRNA vaccine? [WE EXPLAIN]
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