Maternal antibody and respiratory syncytial virus infection in infancy

Abstract

One hundred newborn infants were studied prospectively for 1 year for evidence of infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The indirect membrane fluorescence technique was used to determine specific antibody in sera. Infection was shown in 29 cases. In 31 infants exposed to an RSV epidemic season, there was no evidence of infection. Maternal antenatal sera were also tested, and wide range of IgG antibody to RSV was found. Mean titre of maternal IgG antibody to RSV was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in those mothers whose babies remained uninfected than in those whose babies had proved RSV infection before 6 months of age. Babies born to mothers with high levels of IgG antibody to respiratory syncytial virus were protected against infection with this virus during the first months of life when the risk of severe disease was greatest.

Antibodies to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Polypeptides and their Significance in Human Infection

“…Furthermore, antibody alone modulates virus antigen expression leading to incomplete replication cycles. That such mechanisms are operative at the onset of RS virus infections is compatible with the finding that babies escaping symptomatic RS virus infection in early life possess significantly greater titres of maternally derived IgG reactive with the membrane of RS virus-infected cells (Ogilvie et aL, 1981). Using the radioimmunoprecipitation technique we have demonstrated antibodies reactive with cell-associated RS virus antigens, VP200, VGP95, VP68, VGP48, VPN41, VP35, VP27, VP23 and VGP20, in the serum of a child convalescent from viral pneumonia.…”

“…The virus strain was a local epidemic strain isolated in 1977 (Ogilvie et al, 1981). Virus-infected cells were maintained in Dulbecco's ME M supplemented with 1 ~ FCS.…”

“…The human sera used were collected during local RS virus epidemics (Ogilvie et al, 1981). Proof of infection was by direct isolation of RS virus from nasopharyngeal secretion and by a membrane fluorescence test.…”

“…A pathological role for immune complex formation is supported by the finding that older children with high levels of circulating antibody induced by immunization with inactivated RS virus developed more severe disease than their unvaccinated counterparts when naturally infected with RS virus (Kim et al, 1969). Nevertheless, a protective role for maternal IgG is implied by the facts that RS virus infections of the lung are rare during the first 4 weeks of life (Neligan et al, 1970) and that babies born to mothers with high levels of antibody reactive in the membrane fluorescence test were protected for several months (Ogilvie et al, 1981). Such anomalies can be explained if antibodies to the RS virion surface or the infected cell membrane protect against infection, whereas antibody to other virus components fails to protect and may even lead to immune complex reactions.…”

The use of a formal sensitivity analysis on epidemic models with immune protection from maternally acquired antibodies

“…For exam-ple, in the case of human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV), which has a particularly low average age at primary infection, studies such as those by Ogilvie et al [1] and Hacimustafaoglu et al [2] have shown a strong correlation between high levels of maternal antibodies (MAb) and reduced risk of infection and severity of disease among young infants. Maternal immunity is only acquired passively in the specific form of immunoglobulin isotopes IgA and IgG [3], where IgA is transferred after birth through breast feeding and remains predominantly within mucosal secretions in the digestive and respiratory tracts of the infant.…”