No evidence of fetal defects or anti-syncytin-1 antibody induction following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination

The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination on pregnancy and fertility has become a major topic of public interest. We investigated two of the most widely propagated claims to determine 1) whether COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of mice during early pregnancy is associated with an i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2021-12
Main Authors: Lu-Culligan, Alice, Tabachnikova, Alexandra, Tokuyama, Maria, Lee, Hannah J, Lucas, Carolina, Valter Silva Monteiro, Muenker, M Catherine, Mohanty, Subhasis, Huang, Jiefang, Kang, Insoo, Charles Dela Cruz, Farhadian, Shelli, Campbell, Melissa, Yildirim, Inci, Shaw, Albert, Ko, Albert, Saad Omer, Iwasaki, Akiko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Birth defects
Congenital defects
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Double-stranded RNA
Fertility
Fetuses
Gestational age
Immunization
Immunology
Infertility
mRNA
Neonates
Poly (I:C)
Pregnancy
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Syncytin
TLR3 protein
Toll-like receptors
Vaccination
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Summary:The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination on pregnancy and fertility has become a major topic of public interest. We investigated two of the most widely propagated claims to determine 1) whether COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of mice during early pregnancy is associated with an increased incidence of birth defects or growth abnormalities, and 2) whether COVID-19 mRNA-vaccinated human volunteers exhibit elevated levels of antibodies to the human placental protein syncytin-1. Using a mouse model, we found that intramuscular COVID-19 mRNA vaccination during early pregnancy at gestational age E7.5 did not lead to differences in fetal size by crown-rump length or weight at term, nor did we observe any gross birth defects. In contrast, injection of the TLR3 agonist and double-stranded RNA mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, or poly(I:C), impacted growth in utero leading to reduced fetal size. No overt maternal illness following either vaccination or poly(I:C) exposure was observed. We also found that term fetuses from vaccinated murine pregnancies exhibit high circulating levels of anti-Spike and anti-RBD antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 consistent with maternal antibody status, indicating transplacental transfer. Finally, we did not detect increased levels of circulating anti-syncytin-1 antibodies in a cohort of COVID-19 vaccinated adults compared to unvaccinated adults by ELISA. Our findings contradict popular claims associating COVID-19 mRNA vaccination with infertility and adverse neonatal outcomes. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
ISSN:2692-8205
DOI:10.1101/2021.12.07.471539