Relationship of maternal cytomegalovirus-specific antibody responses and viral load to vertical transmission risk following primary maternal infection in a rhesus macaque model.

ABSTRACT: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital infection and cause of birth defects worldwide. Primary CMV infection during pregnancy leads to a higher frequency of congenital CMV (cCMV) than maternal re-infection, suggesting that maternal immunity confers partial protection. However, poorly understood immune correlates of protection against placental transmission contributes to the current lack of an approved vaccine to prevent cCMV. In this study, we characterized the kinetics of maternal plasma rhesus CMV (RhCMV) viral load (VL) and RhCMV-specific antibody binding and functional responses in a group of 12 immunocompetent dams with acute, primary RhCMV infection. We defined cCMV transmission as RhCMV detection in amniotic fluid (AF) by qPCR. We then leveraged a large group of past a

SUBMITTER: Otero CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10621917 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature