Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan;18(1):9-17.
doi: 10.1177/19345798251315385. Epub 2025 Feb 5.

Concordance of maternal and cord blood SARS-COV-2 immunoglobulin seropositivity after COVID-19 infection or vaccination in pregnancy

Gladys Rojas  1 , Aarti Jain  2 , Fayez Bany-Mohammed  1 , Philip Felgner  2 , Muhammad Aslam  1 , Cherry C Uy  1
Affiliations

Concordance of maternal and cord blood SARS-COV-2 immunoglobulin seropositivity after COVID-19 infection or vaccination in pregnancy

Gladys Rojas et al. J Neonatal Perinatal Med. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess maternal antibody response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during pregnancy and subsequent transplacental antibody transfer in cord blood.Study DesignThis is a prospective cohort study of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive pregnant women and their newborns. SARS-CoV-2 PCR (+) women were enrolled, with SARS-CoV-2 PCR (-) as control. Maternal blood was obtained at enrollment and cord blood collected at delivery. Baseline maternal and infant characteristics and neonatal outcomes were collected. Samples were analyzed using coronavirus antigen microarray containing immunologically significant antigens from SARS-CoV-2 (including nucleocapsid protein [NP], spike protein [S], S1, S2, receptor-binding domain [RBD]) which can detect SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM).ResultsThirty-seven maternal-cord blood paired samples were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 IgG or IgM antibodies; 15 out of 20 samples from SARS-CoV-2 PCR (+) and 14 out of 17 from SARS-CoV-2 PCR (-) mothers were IgG positive. 14 out of the 17 SARS-CoV-2 PCR (-) mothers received COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. Difference between IgG seropositivity of naturally infected versus vaccinated mothers were significant, 75% versus 100% (p = 0.043). IgM antibodies were detected in 10 out of 20 SARS-CoV-2 PCR (+) women but none were detected in cord blood.ConclusionsExcellent concordance of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies exist between maternal and cord blood. Significantly higher SARS-COV-2 cord blood IgG seropositivity was found in vaccinated versus naturally infected mothers.

Keywords: COVID-19; IgG; IgM; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 vaccine; cord blood; immunoglobulin; vertical transmission.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram describing patient enrollment.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
IgM single antigen logistic regression results.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
IgG single antigen logistic regression results.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO health topics: coronavirus disease (COVID-19) overview. https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1.
    1. WHO coronavirus disease (COVID-19) dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/.
    1. Hu B, Guo H, Zhou P, et al. Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Nat Rev Microbiol 2021; 19(3): 141–154. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu C, Chen X, Cai Y, et al. Risk factors associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome and death in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA Intern Med 2020; 180(7): 934–943. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wei SQ, Bilodeau-Bertrand M, Liu S, et al. The impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ (Can Med Assoc J) 2021; 193(16): E540–E548. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources