Fetus Fight Club

The first proof that babies are born ready to repel infections

By Boonsri Dickinson
Aug 16, 2007 5:00 AMNov 12, 2019 6:38 AM

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

At birth, the human immune system is pretty useless; for months newborns rely on immune factors acquired from their mothers while their own infection-fighting systems develop. Or so we thought. Columbia University immunologist Rachel Miller recently found evidence babies have pretty well developed immune systems by the time they’re born.

Miller followed about a hundred pregnant women who came into a clinic for flu shots during their second and third trimesters. After they gave birth, she measured the levels and types of immune cells in both the mothers’ blood and the babies’ umbilical cord blood. She found that 40 percent of the babies produced B cells specific to the flu virus.

To rule out the chance that the cells came directly from the mother, Miller also measured levels of IgM antibodies, markers of B-cell immune response to the flu virus that are too large to have passed through the placenta from the mother to the baby. Her experiment is the first direct demonstration that fetuses can mount their own specific responses to antigens encountered in the womb.

How strong that prenatal punch may be is still unknown. “We showed that babies are born with flu antigen–specific response, but whether that actually provides clinical protection against infection is still unknown,” Miller says.

1 free article left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

1 free articleSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 LabX Media Group