Placental Malaria: Decreased Transfer of Maternal Antibodies Directed to Plasmodium falciparum and Impact on the Incidence of Febrile Infections in Infants

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 12; p. e0145464
• Main Authors: Dechavanne, Celia, Cottrell, Gilles, Garcia, André, Migot-Nabias, Florence
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 23.12.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Antibodies; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; Antibodies, Protozoan - immunology; Antibody response; Antigens; Babies; Bacterial infections; Binding sites; Birth weight; Blood; Care and treatment; Cohort Studies; Complications and side effects; Cord blood; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Fetuses; Humans; Hypergammaglobulinemia; Hypergammaglobulinemia - complications; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Immunoglobulins; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infections; Influence; Malaria; Malaria, Falciparum - epidemiology; Malaria, Falciparum - immunology; Malaria, Falciparum - parasitology; Measles; Physiological aspects; Placenta; Placenta - parasitology; Placenta Diseases - epidemiology; Placenta Diseases - immunology; Placenta Diseases - parasitology; Placental transfer; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - immunology; Plasmodium falciparum - isolation & purification; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic - epidemiology; Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic - immunology; Streptococcus infections; Studies; Vaccines; Vector-borne diseases; Young Adult; France; Benin
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145464

The efficacy of mother-to-child placental transfer of antibodies specific to malaria blood stage antigens was investigated in the context of placental malaria infection, taking into account IgG specificity and maternal hypergammaglobulinemia. The impact of the resulting maternal antibody transfer on infections in infants up to the age of 6 months was also explored. This study showed that i) placental malaria was associated with a reduced placental transfer of total and specific IgG, ii) antibody placental transfer varied according to IgG specificity and iii) cord blood malaria IgG levels were similar in infants born to mothers with or without placental malaria. The number of malaria infections was negatively associated with maternal age, whereas it was not associated with the transfer of any malaria-specific IgG from the mother to the fetus. These results suggest that i) malaria-specific IgG may serve as a marker of maternal exposure but not as a useful marker of infant protection from malaria and ii) increasing maternal age contributes to diminishing febrile infections diagnosed in infants, perhaps by means of the transmission of an effective antibody response.