Pregnancy, Arsenic and Immune Response

As the global availability of vaccines increases, and reaches areas disproportionately affected by arsenic and malnutrition, resolving questions about potential environmental and biologic barriers to maternal immunization has become increasingly urgent. It is not known whether arsenic, a known developmental toxicant, can alter maternal immune responses to vaccination and whether exposure to arsenic during pregnancy can impair the transfer of maternal vaccine-induced antibody to the newborn. Moreover, factors known to affect arsenic metabolism and toxicity outcomes, particularly micronutrients critical in one-carbon metabolism, have not been evaluated in studies of arsenic immunotoxicity and vaccine-induced protection in mothers and their newborns. The objective in this study is to investigate whether maternal arsenic exposure and one-carbon metabolism micronutrient deficiencies alter maternal and newborn measures of vaccine-induced protection, respiratory morbidity, and systemic immune function following influenza vaccination during pregnancy.