Maternal immunization confers protection against neonatal herpes simplex mortality and behavioral morbidity.

ABSTRACT: Neonatal herpes simplex virus (nHSV) infections cause devastating morbidity and mortality in infants. Most nHSV cases are associated with primary maternal infection, consistent with the hypothesis that maternal immunity is protective. In humans, we found HSV-specific neutralizing antibodies in newborns of immune mothers, indicating that placentally transferred HSV-specific antibody is protective. Using a murine model, we showed that passive administration of HSV-specific antibody to dams prevented disseminated infection and mortality in pups. Maternal immunization with an HSV-2 replication-defective vaccine candidate, dl5-29, led to transfer of HSV-specific antibodies into neonatal circulation that protected against nHSV neurological disease and death. Furthermore, we observed consi

SUBMITTER: Patel CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6681804 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature