Inhibitory effect of maternal antibody on mother-to-child transmission of human T-lymphotropic virus type I

✍ Scribed by Kazuo Takahashi; Toshiro Takezaki; Toshitaka Oki; Kiyoshi Kawakami; Shinji Yashiki; Toshinobu Fujiyoshi; Kouichiro Usuku; THE MOTHER-TO-CHILD TRANSMISSION STUDY GROUP; Nancy Mueller; Mitsuhiro Osame; Kouichiro Miyata; Yukihiro Nagata; Shunro Sonoda

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 648 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910490508

✦ Synopsis

In order to evaluate the protective role of the maternal antibody against mother-to-child transmission of HTLV-I, we followed a total of 780 children born to HTLV-I carrier mothers by investigating the level of anti-HTLV-l antibody transferred in utero, decline of the maternal antibody and seroconversion in post-natal life. The anti-HTLV-l antibody was positively detected within the first 3-6 months of life and declined at 6-12 months after birth in all children. After the maternal antibody declined, seroconversion occurred in some of the children following either breast feeding or bottle feeding. The seroconversion rates of short-term (5 6 months) and long-term ( 2 7 months) breast feeders were 4.4% (4/90 cases) and 14.4% (20/ I39 cases), and the rate of bottle feeders was 5.7% (9/ I58 cases). Long-term breast feeding yielded more seroconverters than short-term breast feeding; 14.4% (20/ I39 cases) vs. 4.4% (4/90 cases), RR = 3.68, p = 0.0 18. The seroconversion rate of short-term breast feeders was nearly equal to that of bottle feeders; 4.4% (4/90 cases) vs. 5.7% (9/ I58 cases), RR = 0.770, p = 0.47 I. When neonatal lymphocytes were cultured with breast milk cells of HTLV-I carrier mothers, the in vitro infection of HTLV-I was inhibited by the addition of HTLV-I-seropositive cord-blood plasma. Our results suggest that the maternal antibody may inhibit HTLV-I infection by short-term breast feeding but not by long-term breast feeding after decline of the maternal antibody.

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