Role of maternal viremia and placental infection in hepatitis B virus intrauterine transmission.

The mechanism of intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection has not been established. In this study, venous blood, cord blood, and placental tissues from 171 chronic hepatitis B virus infected pregnant women were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B core antigen, and hepatitis B virus DNA. We found that residence, mode of delivery, age, and number of gestational weeks of pregnant women were not correlated with intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection, while neonates of mothers who were hepatitis B s antigen positive and hepatitis B e antigen positive (P < 0.01) or who had high hepatitis B virus DNA levels (≥10(6) copies/ml) were more likely to get an intrauterine infection (P < 0.01). The hepatitis B virus infection rate in placental cell layers gradiently decreased from the mother's side to the fetus's side of the placenta, but the odds ratio value of correlation between placental hepatitis B virus infection and intrauterine infection gradiently increased. The way of intrauterine hepatitis B virus infection may be through a layer-layer transmission pathway, although the possibility of placental leakage cannot be excluded. Copyright © 2013 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Citation

Yong Chen, Lijuan Wang, Yunfang Xu, Xingxiang Liu, Shouzhong Li, Qiang Qian, Bin Hu, Aijun Zhou, Tianyan Chen, Yingren Zhao. Role of maternal viremia and placental infection in hepatitis B virus intrauterine transmission. Microbes and infection / Institut Pasteur. 2013 May;15(5):409-15

PMID: 23500187

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