Sex of the fetus influences the mother's response to Covid-19 infection

[janterry]

In April 2020, as SARS-CoV-2 was first beginning to spread through New England, researchers at two hospitals in Boston — Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s — began attending deliveries in the Covid units to collect blood and placenta samples from pregnant patients who’d caught the dangerous new infectious disease. That biorepository, which has since grown to house samples from more than 1,000 people, including dozens who received either the Moderna or Pfizer Covid shots, is now helping to answer important questions about the response to the vaccines and coronavirus infection during pregnancy.

In two studies published Tuesday in Science Translational Medicine, the Boston-based research teams found that pregnant and lactating women mount robust antibody responses to both vaccination and infection. The encouraging data also came with some twists that offer intriguing new clues to one of the pandemic’s enduring mysteries: why Covid-19 hits male adults, children, and infants harder than females.

“What’s striking here is that the mothers who are carrying male babies have much lower levels of antibodies to the coronavirus,” said Akiko Iwasaki, a virologist and immunologist at Yale University who was not involved in the study. “What’s interesting about that is it means that the sex of the baby can dictate how the mother responds to a viral infection.”

https://www.statnews.com/2021/10/19/sex-of-the-fetus-influences-the-mothers-response-to-covid-19-infection-new-research-shows/

Hopefully, we continue to keep good sex-specific data - it's so important for good science.

[greymattermom]

1. Thanks for posting this.

I spend the last part of my career studying the biology of sex differences in migraine and was on the board of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. I learned so much at their meetings. For years NIH did not fund basic research in females, outside studying reproduction. Now it's mandated.

[janterry]

4. I remember years ago when only men were studied for breast cancer

at the time, it was explained (as I recall!) that women's hormones added too many variables to the research. That always struck me as shocking. I'm glad to hear that it's mandated.

I've gone through a period of migraines - too (thankfully they have abated).

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Does that turn the tables on who's the 'weaker sex'?

[Wounded Bear]

3. Always been a myth. Women are stronger...

[seta1950]

7. I think

It kind of does

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. More male babies are born to make up for wars and shorter life spans

Nature always finds a way.

[Javaman]

5. that's interesting. it dove tails into the evidence that men in general are more apt to contract

covid than women.

[MontanaMama]

6. This is fascinating.

Thanks very much for posting.

[JudyM]

11. That's exactly what I was about to post.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. So nature is selecting for the production assets

and not the suppliers.

[StarryNite]

10. There is so much more to be learned about COVID-19.

This is yet another puzzle piece looking for a place to fit. And a very important piece at that.

Thank you for sharing.

[mopinko]

12. very interesting. i think we are finding out a lot about immune system interaction w a fetus.

how anyone ever thought it was simple, all i can say is- clearly, this was men.

it makes absolute sense to me that it's much harder to tolerate an opposite sex fetus.
i think one day when we rly understand autoimmune diseases, we will see this interaction at work.

i have autoimmune thyroiditis. nodules on my thyroid. i was told this is because of repeated pregnancies. it sounds to me like my body walling off foreign cells. i could be full of shit, but...