Project description:BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is associated with significant maternal morbidity and increased rates of preterm birth. For this reason, COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy has been endorsed by multiple professional societies, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, despite the exclusion of pregnant women from initial clinical trials of vaccine safety and efficacy. However, to date, little data exist regarding the outcomes of pregnant patients after COVID-19 vaccination.ObjectiveTo assess the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant patients.Study designA comprehensive vaccine registry was combined with a delivery database for an integrated healthcare system to create a delivery cohort that included vaccinated patients. Maternal sociodemographic data were examined to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Pregnancy and birth outcomes were analyzed, including a composite measure of maternal and neonatal pregnancy complications, the Adverse Outcome Index.ResultsOf 2002 patients in the delivery cohort, 140 (7.0%) received a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, and 212 (10.6%) experienced a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. The median gestational age at first vaccination was 32 weeks (range, 13 6/7-40 4/7 weeks), and patients vaccinated during pregnancy were less likely than unvaccinated patients to experience COVID-19 infection before delivery (2/140 [1.4%] vs 210/1862 [11.3%]; P<.001). No maternal COVID-19 infection occurred after the vaccination of pregnant patients. Factors significantly associated with increased likelihood of vaccination in a multivariable logistic regression model included older age, higher level of maternal education, being a nonsmoker, use of infertility treatment for the current pregnancy, and lower gravidity. Compared with unvaccinated patients, no significant difference in the composite adverse outcome (7/140 [5.0%] vs 91/1862 [4.9%]; P=.95) or other maternal or neonatal complications, including thromboembolic events and preterm birth, was observed in vaccinated patients.ConclusionIn this birth cohort, vaccinated pregnant women were less likely than unvaccinated pregnant patients to experience COVID-19 infection, and COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with increased pregnancy or delivery complications. The cohort was skewed toward late pregnancy vaccination, and thus, findings may not be generalizable to vaccination during early pregnancy.
Project description:Pregnancy is a risk factor for increased severity of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections. The mechanisms underlying this risk have not been well-established, partly due to limited understanding of how pregnancy shapes and modulates immune responses. To gain insight into the roles of pregnancy in shaping the immune responses we collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 17 non-pregnant and 9 pregnant donors with various COVID severities and compared their immunological profiles.
Project description:Pregnancy is a risk factor for increased severity of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections. The mechanisms underlying this risk have not been well-established, partly due to limited understanding of how pregnancy shapes and modulates immune responses. To gain insight into the roles of pregnancy in shaping the immune responses we collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 17 non-pregnant and 9 pregnant donors with various COVID severities and compared their immunological profiles.
Project description:Pregnancy is a risk factor for increased severity of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections. The mechanisms underlying this risk have not been well-established, partly due to limited understanding of how pregnancy shapes and modulates immune responses. To gain insight into the roles of pregnancy in shaping the immune responses we collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 17 non-pregnant and 9 pregnant donors with various COVID severities and compared their immunological profiles.
Project description:We studied the impact of a vaccine prime dose on CD8 T cell gene expression We first immunized mice with an Ad5-SARS CoV-2 spike vaccine and then evaluated gene expression on SARS CoV-2 specific CD8 T cells at week 4.
Project description:Durable cell-mediated immune responses require efficient innate immune signaling and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. How precisely mRNA vaccines trigger innate immune cells for shaping antigen specific adaptive immunity remains unknown. Here we show that SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination primes human monocyte derived macrophages for activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Spike protein exposed macrophages undergo NLRP3 driven pyroptotic cell death and subsequently secrete mature interleukin-1β. These effects depend on activation of spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) coupled to C-type lectin receptors. Using autologous co-cultures, we show that SYK and NLRP3 orchestrate macrophage driven activation of effector memory T cells. Furthermore, vaccination induced macrophage priming can be enhanced with repetitive antigen exposure providing a rationale for prime-boost concepts to augment innate immune signaling in SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Collectively, these findings identify SYK as a regulatory node capable of differentiating between primed and unprimed macrophages, which modulate spike protein specific T cell responses.