ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pediatr.

Sec. Children and Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1559877

Growth-promoting hormonal alterations in pregnant women living with HIV receiving dolutegravir-based antiretroviral treatment are associated with lower infant 1-year weight z-scores

Provisionally accepted
Kathleen  M PowisKathleen M Powis1,2,3*Jennifer  JaoJennifer Jao4,5Justine  LegbedzeJustine Legbedze6Caroline  DunkCaroline Dunk7,8Keolebogile  N MmasaKeolebogile N Mmasa9Samuel  W KgoleSamuel W Kgole10Gosego  MasasaGosego Masasa10Terence  MohammedTerence Mohammed10Joseph  MakhemaJoseph Makhema10Sikhulile  MoyoSikhulile Moyo10Mitchell  Eugene GeffnerMitchell Eugene Geffner11Elaine  J AbramsElaine J Abrams12,13Lena  SerghidesLena Serghides14,7,8
  • 1Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 2Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 3Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States
  • 4Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 5Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 6Department of Pediatrics, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 7Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 8University Health Network (UHN), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 9County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Seaham, United Kingdom
  • 10Botswana Harvard Health Partnership, Gaborone, Botswana
  • 11The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 12ICAP at Columbia University, New York, United States
  • 13Department of Pediatrics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City, New York, United States
  • 14Department of Immunology and Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Several maternal hormones regulate fetal growth, but concentrations of these hormones in pregnancy among women living with HIV and associations between hormone levels and infant anthropometrics is limited.Methods: Pregnant women with HIV receiving dolutegravir/tenofovir/emtricitabine and HIVseronegative women and their infants prospectively enrolled in the Botswana-based Tshilo Dikotla study were included in this analysis. Estradiol, sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG), progesterone, cortisol, pituitary growth hormone-1 (GH1), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) concentrations were measured in maternal plasma collected between 24-29 weeks' gestation. Bioavailable estradiol was derived using estradiol and SHBG concentrations. Generalized linear models were fit to evaluate associations between HIV status and each maternal hormone. Similar models were fit to assess effect modification by HIV status on the relationship between each maternal hormone and infant anthropometrics at birth and 1-year of age.Results: Maternal plasma specimens were available from 114 women (46 with HIV). Women with HIV had lower mean log bioavailable estradiol (β: -0.22, p=0.031), cortisol (β: -0.22, p=0.001), and IGF-1 (β: -0.81, p=0.007), but higher GH1 (β: 0.91, p=0.007) than women without HIV. Infant HIV-exposure status modified associations of log GH1 (β: -0.21, p=0.05) and log IGF-1 (β: 0.40, p=0.004) with infant 1-year weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), adjusting for maternal age, BMI, exclusive breastfeeding duration, and birth WAZ. Among infants who were HIV exposed uninfected, lower GH1 and higher IGF1 levels were associated with higher WAZ at 1 year of age. This associations were not observed in HIV-unexposed infants.Associations between maternal growth-promoting hormones and infant weight at 1 year of life differ significantly by maternal HIV status, reflecting potential perturbations in the maternal-fetal-infant growth axis among pregnant women with HIV. Additional research is needed to identify mechanisms and possible interventions.

Keywords: HIV, Pregnancy, Growth Hormone, infants HIV exposed uninfected, infant anthropometrics

Received: 13 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Powis, Jao, Legbedze, Dunk, Mmasa, Kgole, Masasa, Mohammed, Makhema, Moyo, Geffner, Abrams and Serghides. 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: Kathleen M Powis, Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, United States

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