Maternal HPV-antibodies and seroconversion to HPV in children during the first 3 years of life

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 2227
• Main Authors: Syrjänen, Stina, Waterboer, Tim, Rintala, Marjut, Pawlita, Michael, Syrjänen, Kari, Louvanto, Karolina, Grenman, Seija
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.02.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/250; 692/308; Alphapapillomavirus - immunology; Antibodies; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Child, Preschool; Children; Correlation of Data; Female; Finland - epidemiology; Genotypes; Human papillomavirus; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immune response; Immunoglobulin G; Infant; Infants; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical - statistics & numerical data; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Models, Statistical; Mothers; multidisciplinary; Offspring; Papillomavirus Infections - blood; Papillomavirus Infections - epidemiology; Papillomavirus Infections - immunology; Papillomavirus Infections - transmission; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimester, Third - blood; Pregnancy Trimester, Third - immunology; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seroconversion; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Serology; Warts; Finland
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06343-z

To assess the dynamics of human papillomavirus (HPV) serology, we analyzed HPV6-,11-,16-,18-, and 45 antibodies in infants during the first 36 months of their life. Serial serum samples of 276/327 mother–child pairs were collected at baseline (mothers) and at months 1, 2, 6, 12, 24 and 36 (offspring), and tested for HPVL1-antibodies using the GST-L1 assay. Concordance between maternal and infant HPV-antibody levels remained high until month-6 (p <  = 0.001), indicating maternal antibody transfer. At 1 month, 40–62% of the infants tested seropositive to any of the 5 HPV-types. Between 1–3 years of age, 53% (58/109) of the children born to HPV-seronegative mothers tested HPV-seropositive. Times to positive seroconversion varied between13.4 and 18.7 months, and times to negative seroconversion (decay) between 8.5 and 9.9 months. Significant independent predictors of infants’ seroconversion to LR-HPV were hand warts and mother’s history of oral warts and seroconversion to LR-HPV. No predictors of seroconversion to HR-HPV were identified. Maternal HPV-IgG-antibodies are transferred to her offspring and remain detectable for 6 months, corroborating the IgG molecule’s half-life. Seroconversion to HPV-genotypes 6, 11, 16 and 18 was confirmed among children born to HPV-seronegative mothers, implicating an immune response to these HPV-genotypes during early infancy.