Authors
Orlando Cervantes, Sidney Sun, Hazel Huang, Briana Del Rosario, Hong Zhao, Amanda Li, Andrew Vo, Gygeria Manuel, Roslyn Van Abel, Jeff Munson, John Cornelius, Raj P Kapur, Miranda Li, Edmunda Li, Hanning Li, Alexandra Christodoulou, Melissa Berg, Britni Curtis, Elizabeth Miller, Shannon Ruff, Brenna Menz, Solomon Wangari, Audrey Germond, Audrey Baldessari, Chris English, W McIntyre Durning, Thomas B Lewis, Megan N Fredericks, Mara Maughan, Austyn Orvis, Michelle Coleman, Lakshmi Rajagopal, Deborah H Fuller, Kristina M Adams Waldorf
Published in
Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 41. Pages eaee9861. Oct 09, 2026. Epub Oct 09, 2026.
Abstract
Influenza A virus (IAV) infection during pregnancy is associated with stillbirth and preterm birth. We hypothesized that maternal IAV infection disrupts placental and fetal immune networks in ways that correlate with disease severity. Pregnant pigtail macaques were inoculated with IAV [A/California/07/2009 (H1N1)] and underwent delivery and fetal necropsy 5 days postinfection (N = 11), with comparison to uninfected controls (N = 16). Stillbirth occurred in 18% of infected pregnancies and in no controls. Although vertical transmission was not observed, low levels of viral RNA were detected in two placentas. Maternal infection was associated with induction of a type I interferon response in the placenta and altered innate and adaptive immune cell populations in the fetus. Maternal disease metrics (e.g., lung viral load and interferon-α) were rarely associated with placental immune perturbations but frequently linked to fetal immune cell populations (CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and monocyte subsets). Collectively, these data indicate that maternal IAV disease severity is associated with dysregulated fetal immunity.
PMID:
42853914
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Oct 2026.
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