Vaccine to Prevent Premature Birth May Be Possible
- By BSTQ Staff
New research suggests it might someday be possible to create a vaccine that could protect a growing fetus from premature birth and related complications. The key: CD4 T cells. According to the study’s authors, fetal tissue contains material inherited from both the mother and the father, which raises the risk that the mother’s immune system may recognize the fetus as a foreign invader that must be rejected. When a woman becomes pregnant, her immune system stimulates CD4 T cells, which create a rejection roadblock to stop the mother’s immune system from attacking fetal tissue so there is a successful pregnancy. In addition, they found that the CD4 T cells have a so-called memory feature that means, once induced into action during a woman’s first pregnancy, these cells tend to perform their immune system-suppression task even better during subsequent pregnancies. This, they said, would explain why the risk for complications and premature birth goes down after a first pregnancy.
The researchers believe their findings are a blueprint that might lead to a vaccine that could better ensure that mothers can carry their babies to term. So far, the investigators’ research for a possible vaccine has been limited to work involving mice. The research was supported by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
