Medizinische Universität Graz Austria/Österreich - Forschungsportal - Medical University of Graz
SHR
Neuro
Krebs
Kardio
Stoffw
Microb
Lipid
Impfbare Krankheiten bei schwangeren und stillenden Frauen
- Abstract
- Given its effectiveness in protecting pregnant women, foetuses and infants from infectious diseases, maternal immunization has gained interest in recent years. Nevertheless, information on the optimal timing for this vaccination strategy is limited by the relatively poor understanding of the immunobiology of vaccine responses in pregnancy and during lactation. Dynamic changes in immune function occur during gestation that may affect vaccine response in pregnant women if vaccination is given at a different timepoint in pregnancy. Additionally, since several recommendations for vaccination in pregnancy or during lactation are currently in place or being made, the question arises whether the administration of different vaccines has an impact on the induction of the antibody-mediated immune responses and whether this possibly also influence the kinetics of these vaccine-induced antibodies. This implies that repeated sampling after vaccination is needed to describe and analyse antibody kinetics. However, the design of maternal immunization studies is typically informed by generic statistical approaches not dealing with questions as to when and how often samples should be taken in order to gather the right amount of information to investigate antibody kinetics.
The objectives are 1) to describe and compare kinetics of antibodies to two different vaccines (Tdap, COVID-19) and to investigate potential interactions; 2) to develop a framework to plan maternal immunization studies.
In two ongoing trials, serum and breastmilk samples are collected at several timepoints during and after pregnancy. In the Tdap trial, three cohorts of women are included differing in gestational age at which women are vaccinated with Tdap vaccine. In the COVID-19 trial, the effects of vaccinating pregnant and lactating women with a COVID-19 vaccine are investigated. In this project, we will measure antibody titres in blood and breastmilk samples for the vaccine not being the focus of the respective trial, i.e. getting in all samples information on Tdap and COVID-19. We will use mathematical models combined with statistical tools to analyse dynamic immune response and to improve the design of maternal immunization studies.
The main innovations are:1) comparing kinetic behaviour of antibodies induced by two different vaccines on several time points in serum and breastmilk; 2) investigating potential interactions of antibodies induced by two vaccines impacting the kinetics over time; 3) development of novel methodology to analyse and plan maternal immunization studies. Within this project, we focus on pertussis and COVID-19 as examples, but outcomes of this project can be applied to other infectious diseases for which vaccines can be administered in pregnancy or during lactation.
- Schlagworte
- Antikörperkinteik
- mathematische Modelle
- mütterliche Immunisierung
- Studiendesign
- Projektleitung:
- Herzog Sereina Annik
- Laufzeit:
- 01.06.2023-31.05.2028
- Programm:
- FWF Joint Projects
- Art der Forschung
- Grundlagenforschung
- Mitarbeiter*innen
- Herzog, Sereina Annik, Projektleiter*in
- Beteiligte MUG-Organisationseinheiten
- Institut für Medizinische Informatik, Statistik und Dokumentation
- Projektpartner
-
Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgien
Kontaktperson: Prof. Dr. Kirsten Maertens;
- Gefördert durch
- FWF, Fonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Wien, Österreich
FWF-Grant-DOI: 10.55776/I6376
- Publizierte Projektergebnisse
- > Timing of pertussis vaccination during pregnancy: ... Vaccine. 2024; 42(21): 126152