Transplacental transfer of maternal binding and neutralizing antibodies against Respiratory Syncytial Virus – an assay specific comparison
- 1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
- 2Center for Childhood Infections and Vaccines, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
- 3Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
Abstract
Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in young children. Maternal antibodies can protect infants against RSV in the first months of life. Assessing antibody transfer efficiency by comparing infant to maternal antibody titers (C/M) is important for determining timing for maternal vaccination. Methods We used 5 IgG antibody enzyme immunoassays with the RSV F (F wt ) or prefusion-stabilized F (F Pre ) proteins, G (subgroup A (Ga) or B (Gb)) proteins, or RSV lysate antigens and 2 neutralization assays, one for each RSV subgroup, and compared C/M ratios across different assays. We tested 164 mother-child specimen pairs, including 124 preterm and 40 full-term infants. Results Matched-pair analysis of all specimen pairs indicated that the median C/M ratio and interquartile range (IQR) for anti-F wt (1.064; IQR 0.739, 1.555) and anti-Lysate (1.062, IQR 0.710, 1.519) antibodies were significantly higher (p<0.001) than anti-Ga (1.009, IQR 0.585, 1.295), anti-Gb (0.977, IQR 0.607, 1.350) antibodies and higher than RSV-A (1.000, IQR 0.567, 1.437) and RSV-B (1.000, IQR 0.688, 1.437) neutralizing antibodies, and anti-F Pre (1.023, IQR 0.635, 1.367) antibodies. Differences in transfer efficiencies between assays were affected by gestational age - preterm infants had higher C/M ratios for neutralizing compared to binding antibodies, while full-term infants had higher C/M ratios for binding than neutralizing antibodies. Conclusion There are assay differences in C/M ratios, and this study provides insights into the effect of assay choice on determining transfer patterns and guides selection of study assays and comparison of results among studies.
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BibTeX
@article{sankaranarayanan2026transplacental,
title = {{Transplacental transfer of maternal binding and neutralizing antibodies against Respiratory Syncytial Virus – an assay specific comparison}},
author = {Ranjini Sankaranarayanan and Heying Sun and Binh Ha and Shasha Bai and Theda Gibson and Ashley Tippett and Luis W. Salazar and Evan J. Anderson and Christina A. Rostad and Larry J. Anderson},
journal = {Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.jcv.2026.106020},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2026.106020},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Transplacental transfer of maternal binding and neutralizing antibodies against Respiratory Syncytial Virus – an assay specific comparison
AU - Ranjini Sankaranarayanan
AU - Heying Sun
AU - Binh Ha
AU - Shasha Bai
AU - Theda Gibson
AU - Ashley Tippett
AU - Luis W. Salazar
AU - Evan J. Anderson
AU - Christina A. Rostad
AU - Larry J. Anderson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
DO - 10.1016/j.jcv.2026.106020
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2026.106020
AB - Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in young children. Maternal antibodies can protect infants against RSV in the first months of life. Assessing antibody transfer efficiency by comparing infant to maternal antibody titers (C/M) is important for determining timing for maternal vaccination. Methods We used 5 IgG antibody enzyme immunoassays with the RSV F (F wt ) or prefusion-stabilized F (F Pre ) proteins, G (subgroup A (Ga) or B (Gb)) proteins, or RSV lysate antigens and 2 neutralization assays, one for each RSV subgroup, and compared C/M ratios across different assays. We tested 164 mother-child specimen pairs, including 124 preterm and 40 full-term infants. Results Matched-pair analysis of all specimen pairs indicated that the median C/M ratio and interquartile range (IQR) for anti-F wt (1.064; IQR 0.739, 1.555) and anti-Lysate (1.062, IQR 0.710, 1.519) antibodies were significantly higher (p<0.001) than anti-Ga (1.009, IQR 0.585, 1.295), anti-Gb (0.977, IQR 0.607, 1.350) antibodies and higher than RSV-A (1.000, IQR 0.567, 1.437) and RSV-B (1.000, IQR 0.688, 1.437) neutralizing antibodies, and anti-F Pre (1.023, IQR 0.635, 1.367) antibodies. Differences in transfer efficiencies between assays were affected by gestational age - preterm infants had higher C/M ratios for neutralizing compared to binding antibodies, while full-term infants had higher C/M ratios for binding than neutralizing antibodies. Conclusion There are assay differences in C/M ratios, and this study provides insights into the effect of assay choice on determining transfer patterns and guides selection of study assays and comparison of results among studies.
SN - 1386-6532
SN - 1873-5967
ER -