Research Suggests Possible Vaccine to Prevent Premature Birth
But studies have been limited to animal models, so such a vaccine isn't imminent.
New research suggests it might someday be possible to create a vaccine that could protect a growing fetus from premature birth and related complications.
A team of researchers have found the key: CD4 T cells.
When a woman becomes pregnant her immune system stimulates a certain type of regulatory cell -- CD4 T cells. These cells then throw up a rejection roadblock, stopping the mother's immune system from attacking fetal tissue and paving the way for a successful pregnancy.
The researchers now believe they have a blueprint that might lead to a vaccine that could better ensure that mothers can carry their baby to term.
Current vaccines exclusively target immune-activating T cells. With the polio vaccine, for example, vaccination is designed to induce long-lasting immune-activating cells that eradicate the virus with later infection.
By contrast, a pregnancy vaccine would aim to stimulate immune-suppressing T cells to prevent the rejection of a fetus.
So far, the investigators' research on a possible vaccine has been limited to work involving mice.
And though research with animals often fails to produce similar results in humans, their efforts have yielded some potentially useful information.
These insights include the finding that 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 would explain why the risk for complications and premature birth goes down after a first pregnancy.
It's just one small piece in furthering our understanding of the regulation of immune function during pregnancy. And a lot more work needs to be done before one could really look toward developing any kind of a vaccine.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services
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