Trans-generational antibody transfer constitutes an important mechanism by which mothers may enhance offspring resistance to pathogens. Thus, differential antibody deposition may potentially allow a female to differentiate offspring performance. Here, we examined whether maternal immunization with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) prior to egg laying affects sex-specific yolk antibody transfer and s...

OBJECTIVE To determine the critical maternal antibody threshold for specialist referral in cases of RhD alloimmunization. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study, covering a 16-year period at the national tertiary fetal medicine center for management of alloimmunization. Data concerning RhD alloimmunized pregnant women were extracted from an institutional database and maternal anti-D an...

BACKGROUND Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia is most commonly due to transplacental passage of maternal anti-HPA 1a antibodies. A prospective study was carried out to evaluate the pattern and quantity of maternal anti-HPA 1a antibodies in order to predict the level of thrombocytopenia in the neonates. DESIGN AND METHODS A monoclonal antibody immobilization of platelet antigen assay was use...

IgG immune deposits in glomerular lesions were found in 62% of 4-week-old mice born from anti-DNA antibody positive mothers but not in the mice born from anti-DNA antibody negative ones. In the former mice anti-DNA antibody producing cells could not be detected in spite of the presence of antibody. These results indicate that maternal anti-DNA antibody might be responsible for the development o...

Prospective cohort studies indicate that 13-45% of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected pregnant women transmit the virus to their infants. Although factors that influence perinatal transmission are not well understood, drug and immunotherapy trials to interrupt transmission are underway. The identification of women most at risk is essential for prevention, counselling, and medi...

Purpose. To find out if the serum IgG level in the newborn baby was affected by low maternal serum IgG during pregnancy in two newly diagnosed primary antibody deficient patients. Method. Infant cord blood IgG level was compared with maternal IgG level in 2 mothers with newly diagnosed primary antibody deficiency, who declined replacement IgG treatment during pregnancy. Results. Both mothers de...

Infants are born with immature immune systems, making it difficult for them to effectively respond to the infectious pathogens encountered shortly after birth. Maternal antibody is actively transported across the placenta and serves to provide protection to the newborn during the first weeks to months of life. However, maternal antibody has been shown repeatedly to inhibit the immune responses ...

The privileged position of the fetus, containing foreign protein that is not rejected by its mother, has intrigued biologists for many years. More recently, it has been realised that certain maternal autoimmune diseases, particularly immune thrombocytopenia, Graves' disease, pemphigoid gestationis (herpes gestationis), myasthenia gravis, and systemic lupus erythematosus may affect the fetus by ...

INTRODUCTION During pregnancy, immunoglobulin G (IgG) is transferred from the mother to the fetus, providing protection from disease in early infancy. Plasmodium falciparum infections may reduce maternofetal antibody transfer efficiency, but mechanisms remain unclear. METHODS Mother-cord paired serum samples collected at delivery from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Thailand-Myanmar Border Are...

Perinatal human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission is characterized by acquisition of a homogeneous viral quasispecies, yet the selective factors responsible for this genetic bottleneck are unclear. We examined the role of maternal autologous neutralizing antibody (aNAB) in selective transmission of HIV-1 escape variants to infants. Maternal sera from 38 infected mothers at the ...