ORIGINAL RESEARCH
IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in neonates born to mothers with COVID-19
Filatov City Clinical Hospital № 15, Moscow, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Borislav V. Silaev
Veshnyakovskaya, 23/1, Moscow, 111517; ur.xednay@vealisrd
Compliance with ethical standards: the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Filatov City Clinical Hospital No. 15 (Protocol No. 5 dated May12, 2020). Informed consent was obtained from all study participants or their legal representatives.
Author contribution: Semeshkin AA — data acquisition, blood collection for antibody tests in neonates, nasopharyngeal swab collection for PCR tests in neonates, analysis of the obtained data, manuscript preparation; Vechorko VI, Averkov OV — study planning, analysis of the obtained data; Silaev BV — study planning, blood collection for antibody tests in mothers, nasopharyngeal swab collection for PCR tests in mothers, data analysis, literature analysis, manuscript preparation; Levchuk NN — data acquisition, laboratory tests for IgM and IgG, analysis of the obtained data; Polikarpova SV — data acquisition, PCR tests in mothers and neonates, literature analysis, analysis of the obtained data.
Immunity against the novel coronavirus infection in neonates born to mothers with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 is an understudied field of research. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The study was carried out in 20 mothers aged 19 to 39 years and 21 neonates (including a pair of twins). Babies born to mothers with elevated IgM and IgG against SARS-CoV-2 also had elevated IgG. There is a hypothesis that anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM are not passed on to the child across the placenta. In all cases studied in this work, neonates were PCR-negative for the virus, which suggests the absence of vertical COVID-19 transmission. Further research is needed.
Keywords: placenta, IgG, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, novel coronavirus, transmission routes, neonate, mother, neonatal immunity, immunoglobulin, IgM