Maternal transfer of IgA and IgG SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies transplacentally and via breastfeeding

  1. Mohammad M. Sajadi
  2. Narjes Shokatpour
  3. Allison Bathula
  4. Zahra Rikhtegaran Tehrani
  5. Allison Lankford
  6. Madeleine Purcell
  7. James D. Campbell
  8. Elizabeth Adrianne Hammershaimb
  9. Kristopher B. Deatrick
  10. Casey Bor
  11. Dawn M. Parsell
  12. Colleen Dugan
  13. Andrea R. Levine
  14. Sabrina C. Ramelli
  15. Daniel S. Chertow
  16. Daniel L Herr
  17. George K. Lewis
  18. Alison Grazioli

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Abstract

Although there have been many studies on antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in breastmilk, very few have looked at the fate of these in the baby. We carried out a study in 22 mother/baby pairs (mothers who breastfed and who were SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated before or after delivery) looking at mother blood, mother milk, baby blood, baby nose, and baby stool. Breastfed infants only acquired systemic anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies if their mothers were vaccinated antepartum. None of the infants had SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA in the blood, but surprisingly, half of the infants in the Antepartum group had high titer SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA in the nose that exceeded titers found in breastmilk. Vaccination antepartum followed by breastfeeding appears to be the best way to provide systemic and local anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for infants.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.12.21.21267733: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsConsent: 2,3 All mothers provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Maryland institutional review board.
    IRB: 2,3 All mothers provided written informed consent; the study was approved by the University of Maryland institutional review board.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    IgG and IgA SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in maternal blood and milk, as well as infant blood, nose, and stool were determined by ELISA.
    IgA SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analysis was performed with GraphPad Prism 5.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations of this study include difference in ages of the infants in the two groups (partly due to vaccine schedule), cross-sectional design, small study population, and small sample volume that precluded functional testing. While breastfeeding brings many benefits for the infant, there does not appear to be any meaningful transfer of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody from mothers to their infants if vaccinated postpartum. In mothers who breastfed, vaccination antepartum followed by breastfeeding appears to be the best way to provide systemic and local anti SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for infants.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.12.21.21267733 on medRxiv