ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Viral Immunology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1606582

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Immunological Effects of Respiratory Viruses during Pregnancy and BreastfeedingView all 5 articles

The dialog between mother and newborn: insights from immune mediator crosstalk elicited by antenatal SARS-COV-2 exposure

Provisionally accepted
Maria Eduarda Canellas-de-CastroMaria Eduarda Canellas-de-Castro1,2,3*Lizandra Moura Paravidine SasakiLizandra Moura Paravidine Sasaki1,2Geraldo Magela FernandesGeraldo Magela Fernandes1,3,4Felipe MottaFelipe Motta1David Alves De Araujo JuniorDavid Alves De Araujo Junior1Heidi Luise SchulteHeidi Luise Schulte1Angelo Pereira da SilvaAngelo Pereira da Silva2Caroline de Oliveira AlvesCaroline de Oliveira Alves3Rosana Maria TristãoRosana Maria Tristão3José Alfredo Lacerda de JesusJosé Alfredo Lacerda de Jesus3Karina Nascimento CostaKarina Nascimento Costa3Luiz Claudio Gonçalves de CastroLuiz Claudio Gonçalves de Castro1,3Otávio de Toledo NóbregaOtávio de Toledo Nóbrega1Laila Salmen EspindolaLaila Salmen Espindola1Jordana Grazziela Coelho-dos-ReisJordana Grazziela Coelho-dos-Reis5Joaquim Pedro Brito-de-SousaJoaquim Pedro Brito-de-Sousa6Ismael Artur Costa-RochaIsmael Artur Costa-Rocha6Vitor Hugo Simões MirandaVitor Hugo Simões Miranda6Ana Carolina Campi-AzevedoAna Carolina Campi-Azevedo6Vanessa Peruhype-MagalhãesVanessa Peruhype-Magalhães6Andréa Teixeira-CarvalhoAndréa Teixeira-Carvalho6Ciro Martins GomesCiro Martins Gomes1,3,7Alberto Carlos Moreno ZaconetaAlberto Carlos Moreno Zaconeta3Cleandro Pires de AlbuquerqueCleandro Pires de Albuquerque1,2Licia Maria Henrique da MotaLicia Maria Henrique da Mota1,2,7Olindo Assis Martins-FilhoOlindo Assis Martins-Filho6*Alexandre Anderson De Sousa Munhoz SoaresAlexandre Anderson De Sousa Munhoz Soares1,3
  • 1Programa de Pós-Graduacao em Ciências Médicas da Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
  • 2Hospital Universitário de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
  • 3Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
  • 4Secretaria de Saúde do Distrito Federal, Brasília, Brazil
  • 5Laboratório de Virologia Básica e Aplicada, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  • 6René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • 7Programa de Pós-Graduação em Patologia Molecular, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

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The present study intended to evaluate whether the profile of soluble immune mediators observed in cord blood samples resemble the pattern identified for mother serum samples.For this purpose, parallel analysis of chemokines, cytokines and growth factors was carried out in mother-newborn paired samples from Acute and convalescent COVID-19 subgroups (Early, Intermediate and Late) as well as healthy controls (HC). Data demonstrated that increased levels of CCL11, IFN-, IL1-Ra, G-CSF were observed in cord blood samples from most COVID-19 subgroups, with fold change magnitude from 1.6x to 8.2x as compared to HC. Comparative analysis of mother-newborn pairs demonstrated that several immune mediators (CCL11, CCL4, IFN-, PDFG and G-CSF) exhibited high increment magnitude in cord blood as compared to mother serum, reaching values up to 15.7x, mainly at convalescent COVID-19 infection. The signatures of soluble immune mediators revealed distinct waveforms for cord blood and mother serum, with a waning of immune mediators in the latter, contrasting with the increasing set of molecules in the former from acute towards convalescent COVID-19. Integrative network analysis of immune mediators in mother-newborn pairs showed an increase of neighborhood connectivity in both microenvironments as well as in their interplay from acute towards late convalescent COVID-19. Our results support the hypothesis of interplay between mother serum and cord blood microenvironment that may impact the fetus development.Together, these evidences regarding the maternal-fetal crosstalk can ultimately subsidize the improvement of clinical practice and public health policies for management of prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords: Chemokines, Cytokines, Serum, Cerebrospinal Fluid, Pregnancy, delivery, COVID-19

Received: 05 Apr 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Canellas-de-Castro, Sasaki, Fernandes, Motta, Alves De Araujo Junior, Schulte, da Silva, Alves, Tristão, de Jesus, Costa, Castro, Nóbrega, Espindola, Coelho-dos-Reis, Brito-de-Sousa, Costa-Rocha, Miranda, Campi-Azevedo, Peruhype-Magalhães, Teixeira-Carvalho, Gomes, Zaconeta, Albuquerque, Mota, Martins-Filho and Soares. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Maria Eduarda Canellas-de-Castro, Programa de Pós-Graduacao em Ciências Médicas da Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
Olindo Assis Martins-Filho, René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Belo Horizonte, 1715, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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Supplementary Material