Lactation Remodels the Maternal Lung to Promote Preemptive Innate Defense
- 1Princeton University
Abstract
Lactation is a hallmark of mammalian evolution, imposing extraordinary physiological demands on mothers to nourish their offspring. Yet how mothers maintain their own health while meeting these demands remains poorly understood. Here, we discover that lactation establishes a preemptive innate defense program in the maternal lung through enhanced epithelial production of surfactant proteins and mucin, vascular remodeling that supports granulocyte recruitment and accumulation of activated intravascular neutrophils. These tissue-wide adaptations safeguard lactating dams against diverse respiratory pathogens. We further identify prolactin and CGRP as neuroendocrine signals contributing to pulmonary remodeling and uncover parallel lactation-associated granulocyte adaptations in marsupial and non-human primate models. Together, our findings expand the framework of reproductive immunology, revealing that reproduction couples systemic fetal tolerance with tissue-specific immune adaptations that safeguard maternal health during lactation.
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BibTeX
@misc{cafiero2026lactation,
title = {{Lactation Remodels the Maternal Lung to Promote Preemptive Innate Defense}},
author = {T. R. Cafiero and S. C. Lee and C. Huang and K. H. Antunes Fernandes and R. Shivarathri and D. Setiawan and H. Sen and J. Ribeiro de Souza and L. Ye and R. Mallarino and F. M. Krienen and J. V. Desai and A. I. Lim},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.02.756233},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756233v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Lactation Remodels the Maternal Lung to Promote Preemptive Innate Defense
AU - T. R. Cafiero
AU - S. C. Lee
AU - C. Huang
AU - K. H. Antunes Fernandes
AU - R. Shivarathri
AU - D. Setiawan
AU - H. Sen
AU - J. Ribeiro de Souza
AU - L. Ye
AU - R. Mallarino
AU - F. M. Krienen
AU - J. V. Desai
AU - A. I. Lim
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.02.756233
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756233v1
AB - Lactation is a hallmark of mammalian evolution, imposing extraordinary physiological demands on mothers to nourish their offspring. Yet how mothers maintain their own health while meeting these demands remains poorly understood. Here, we discover that lactation establishes a preemptive innate defense program in the maternal lung through enhanced epithelial production of surfactant proteins and mucin, vascular remodeling that supports granulocyte recruitment and accumulation of activated intravascular neutrophils. These tissue-wide adaptations safeguard lactating dams against diverse respiratory pathogens. We further identify prolactin and CGRP as neuroendocrine signals contributing to pulmonary remodeling and uncover parallel lactation-associated granulocyte adaptations in marsupial and non-human primate models. Together, our findings expand the framework of reproductive immunology, revealing that reproduction couples systemic fetal tolerance with tissue-specific immune adaptations that safeguard maternal health during lactation.
ER -