PLoS ONE (Jan 2023)

The role of the T-cell mediated immune response to Cytomegalovirus infection in intrauterine transmission.

  • María Soriano-Ramos,
  • Estrella Esquivel-De la Fuente,
  • Eliseo Albert Vicent,
  • María de la Calle,
  • Fernando Baquero-Artigao,
  • Sara Domínguez-Rodríguez,
  • María Cabanes,
  • Enery Gómez-Montes,
  • Anna Goncé,
  • Marta Valdés-Bango,
  • Mª Carmen Viñuela-Benéitez,
  • Mar Muñoz-Chápuli Gutiérrez,
  • Jesús Saavedra-Lozano,
  • Irene Cuadrado Pérez,
  • Begoña Encinas,
  • Laura Castells Vilella,
  • María de la Serna Martínez,
  • Alfredo Tagarro,
  • Paula Rodríguez-Molino,
  • Estela Giménez Quiles,
  • Diana García Alcázar,
  • Antonio García Burguillo,
  • María Dolores Folgueira,
  • David Navarro,
  • Daniel Blázquez-Gamero,
  • CYTRIC Study Group

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281341
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 2
p. e0281341

Abstract

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IntroductionPrognostic markers for fetal transmission of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during pregnancy are poorly understood. Maternal CMV-specific T-cell responses may help prevent fetal transmission and thus, we set out to assess whether this may be the case in pregnant women who develop a primary CMV infection.MethodsA multicenter prospective study was carried out at 8 hospitals in Spain, from January 2017 to April 2020. Blood samples were collected from pregnant women at the time the primary CMV infection was diagnosed to assess the T-cell response. Quantitative analysis of interferon producing specific CMV-CD8+/CD4+ cells was performed by intracellular cytokine flow cytometry.ResultsIn this study, 135 pregnant women with a suspected CMV infection were evaluated, 60 of whom had a primary CMV infection and samples available. Of these, 24 mothers transmitted the infection to the fetus and 36 did not. No association was found between the presence of specific CD4 or CD8 responses against CMV at the time maternal infection was diagnosed and the risk of fetal transmission. There was no transmission among women with an undetectable CMV viral load in blood at diagnosis.ConclusionsIn this cohort of pregnant women with a primary CMV infection, no association was found between the presence of a CMV T-cell response at the time of maternal infection and the risk of intrauterine transmission. A detectable CMV viral load in the maternal blood at diagnosis of the primary maternal infection may represent a relevant biomarker associated with fetal transmission.