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Identifying and modeling immune correlates of protection against congenital CMV transmission after primary maternal infection

Award Number: R01AI173333
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Identifying and modeling immune correlates of protection against congenital CMV transmission after primary maternal infection - ABSTRACT Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is the leading infectious cause of birth defects and brain damage worldwide, leaving >5,000 infants with permanent disabilities each year in the U.S. alone, with a disproportionate proportion in minority populations. While a vaccine to prevent cCMV has been labeled “tier 1 priority” for over 20 years, we remain without a licensed vaccine product, in part due to limited understanding of the types of immune responses that are protective against placental CMV transmission. Primary infection during pregnancy is high risk for cCMV transmission, yet only approximately a third of mothers acutely-infected during pregnancy will transmit the virus to their infants, suggesting that the rapidity and magnitude of the maternal immune responses plays a role in protection against placental virus transmission. The overarching goal of this proposal is to define CMV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses associated with reduced risk of fetal transmission and model their impact on placental transmission. To address this goal, we have access to a unique cohort of 399 acutely CMV-infected transmitting and non-transmitting pregnant women enrolled in the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit (MFMU) CMV hyperimmunoglobulin trial (NCT01376778). This trial was a double-blind randomized trial that screened >100,000 pregnant women for acute CMV infection for enrollment to receive either CMV hyperimmunoglobulin (HIG) or placebo, yet was stopped for futility, creating a unique opportunity to define the acute cellular and humoral immune responses that are associated with transmission risk since HIG infusion after seroconversion did not change transmission risk. Our hypothesis is that the combination of early, functional CMV-specific IgG responses and CD4+ T cell and specialized innate immune cell responses to primary CMV infection during pregnancy will predict reduced risk of fetal transmission and disease. The combined strength of this uniquely large acutely CMV-infected pregnant cohort, our expertise in measuring CMV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses, and expertise in novel mathematical and placental organoid models will inform immune targets of CMV vaccine development that will be predicted to reduce the risk of cCMV transmission. Our Specific Aims include: 1) Define the CMV-specific IgG binding and functional responses associated with reduced transmission and disease following primary CMV infection in pregnancy; 2) Define the cellular immune responses elicited during primary CMV infection that associate with reduced transmission in pregnancy; 3) Develop an in silico model that can predict candidate CMV vaccine efficacy for prevention of placental transmission based on maternal immune correlates of cCMV transmission and the rate of viral spread in placental organoid models. Defining immune targets that will reduce fetal transmission and infant disease following primary maternal CMV infection will speed the design of effective vaccines to drastically decrease neurologic impairment and long-term disabilities in children worldwide.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $794,563 )
2025	2025	WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY	575 LEXINGTON AVE FL 9	NEW YORK	NY	10022	NEW YORK	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	2/13/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$794,563
														Subtotal = $794,563

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $822,260 )
2024	2024	WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY	575 LEXINGTON AVE FL 9	NEW YORK	NY	10022	NEW YORK	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	2	2/20/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$740,034
2024	2024	WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY	575 LEXINGTON AVE FL 9	NEW YORK	NY	10022	NEW YORK	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	2	5/23/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$82,226
														Subtotal = $822,260

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $848,374 )
2023	2023	WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY	1300 YORK AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10065	NEW YORK	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	1	3/17/2023	NEW	$848,374
														Subtotal = $848,374

Grand Total All Awards = $2,465,197

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Identifying and modeling immune correlates of protection against congenital CMV transmission after primary maternal infection

Award Number: R01AI173333

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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