tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS Biol
. 2022 May 24;20(5):e3001506.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001506. eCollection 2022 May.
No evidence of fetal defects or anti-syncytin-1 antibody induction following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination
Alice Lu-Culligan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexandra Tabachnikova[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Eddy Pérez-Then[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maria Tokuyama[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Hannah J Lee[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Carolina Lucas[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Valter Silva Monteiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marija Miric[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Vivian Brache[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Leila Cochon[SUP] 5 [/SUP], M Catherine Muenker[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Subhasis Mohanty[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Jiefang Huang[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Insoo Kang[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Charles Dela Cruz[SUP] 9 10 [/SUP], Shelli Farhadian[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Melissa Campbell[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Inci Yildirim[SUP] 6 11 12 [/SUP], Albert C Shaw[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Shuangge Ma[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Sten H Vermund[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Albert I Ko[SUP] 6 7 [/SUP], Saad B Omer[SUP] 6 7 12 [/SUP], Akiko Iwasaki[SUP] 1 6 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination on pregnancy and fertility has become a major topic of public interest. We investigated 2 of the most widely propagated claims to determine (1) whether COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of mice during early pregnancy is associated with an increased incidence of birth defects or growth abnormalities; and (2) whether COVID-19 mRNA-vaccinated human volunteers exhibit elevated levels of antibodies to the human placental protein syncytin-1. Using a mouse model, we found that intramuscular COVID-19 mRNA vaccination during early pregnancy at gestational age E7.5 did not lead to differences in fetal size by crown-rump length or weight at term, nor did we observe any gross birth defects. In contrast, injection of the TLR3 agonist and double-stranded RNA mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, or poly(I:C), impacted growth in utero leading to reduced fetal size. No overt maternal illness following either vaccination or poly(I:C) exposure was observed. We also found that term fetuses from these murine pregnancies vaccinated prior to the formation of the definitive placenta exhibit high circulating levels of anti-spike and anti-receptor-binding domain (anti-RBD) antibodies to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) consistent with maternal antibody status, indicating transplacental transfer in the later stages of pregnancy after early immunization. Finally, we did not detect increased levels of circulating anti-syncytin-1 antibodies in a cohort of COVID-19 vaccinated adults compared to unvaccinated adults by ELISA. Our findings contradict popular claims associating COVID-19 mRNA vaccination with infertility and adverse neonatal outcomes.
. 2022 May 24;20(5):e3001506.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001506. eCollection 2022 May.
No evidence of fetal defects or anti-syncytin-1 antibody induction following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination
Alice Lu-Culligan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexandra Tabachnikova[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Eddy Pérez-Then[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maria Tokuyama[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP], Hannah J Lee[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Carolina Lucas[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Valter Silva Monteiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marija Miric[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Vivian Brache[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Leila Cochon[SUP] 5 [/SUP], M Catherine Muenker[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Subhasis Mohanty[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Jiefang Huang[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Insoo Kang[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Charles Dela Cruz[SUP] 9 10 [/SUP], Shelli Farhadian[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Melissa Campbell[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Inci Yildirim[SUP] 6 11 12 [/SUP], Albert C Shaw[SUP] 1 7 [/SUP], Shuangge Ma[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Sten H Vermund[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Albert I Ko[SUP] 6 7 [/SUP], Saad B Omer[SUP] 6 7 12 [/SUP], Akiko Iwasaki[SUP] 1 6 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35609110
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001506
Abstract
The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination on pregnancy and fertility has become a major topic of public interest. We investigated 2 of the most widely propagated claims to determine (1) whether COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of mice during early pregnancy is associated with an increased incidence of birth defects or growth abnormalities; and (2) whether COVID-19 mRNA-vaccinated human volunteers exhibit elevated levels of antibodies to the human placental protein syncytin-1. Using a mouse model, we found that intramuscular COVID-19 mRNA vaccination during early pregnancy at gestational age E7.5 did not lead to differences in fetal size by crown-rump length or weight at term, nor did we observe any gross birth defects. In contrast, injection of the TLR3 agonist and double-stranded RNA mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, or poly(I:C), impacted growth in utero leading to reduced fetal size. No overt maternal illness following either vaccination or poly(I:C) exposure was observed. We also found that term fetuses from these murine pregnancies vaccinated prior to the formation of the definitive placenta exhibit high circulating levels of anti-spike and anti-receptor-binding domain (anti-RBD) antibodies to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) consistent with maternal antibody status, indicating transplacental transfer in the later stages of pregnancy after early immunization. Finally, we did not detect increased levels of circulating anti-syncytin-1 antibodies in a cohort of COVID-19 vaccinated adults compared to unvaccinated adults by ELISA. Our findings contradict popular claims associating COVID-19 mRNA vaccination with infertility and adverse neonatal outcomes.