About this Research Topic

Background

Globally, antibody-driven diseases represent an unmet patient need, comprising more than 80 chronic autoimmune and alloimmune conditions. Antibody-driven diseases such as lupus, myasthenia gravis, and rheumatoid arthritis disproportionately affect women and birthing people during the child-bearing years, especially those from black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. Active disease is associated with increased risk for serious pregnancy complications with permanent impact on the health of mother and fetus, suggesting that inflammatory processes affect not only the underlying disease but also the immunobiology of pregnancy. In the absence of maternal disease, auto- or alloimmunity in a pregnant person can directly lead to fetal disease via transplacental transfer of antibodies. Further, studies of vaccination in pregnancy and unique pregnancy complications (e.g., Rh isoimmunization, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome) can also yield interesting insights into antibody-mediated diseases.

New cross-disciplinary insights into the immunopathology of auto- and alloimmune conditions of pregnancy are leading to innovative approaches to detection and management, enabling roadmaps toward better maternal and fetal outcomes. This Research Topic aims to showcase new data and ideas to advance the field of reproductive immunology.

We welcome the submission of Brief Research Report, Case Report, Clinical Trial, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Review/Mini-Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, and Systematic Review articles, focusing on, but not limited to, the following research areas:

• Discovery and validation of diagnostic risk classifiers to identify pregnant people at risk for antibody-mediated conditions of pregnancy
• Real world evidence and epidemiology approaches to understanding the current state of treatment for the prevention of antibody-mediated conditions of pregnancy
• Understanding the etiology of pregnancy conditions occurring in people with antibody-mediated diseases, including preeclampsia, premature labor, and disease activity
• Understanding the immune and vascular mechanisms contributing to fetal diseases caused by maternal antibodies, with consideration for racial and geographical background
• Understanding racial, geographic, socioeconomic disparities in immune-mediated pregnancy outcomes, including performance of risk classifiers and treatments
• Novel approaches to the treatment of pregnant people at risk for antibody-mediated conditions, including innovative methods for clinical trials.
• Novel laboratory models for investigation of therapeutics involving antibodies or immunotherapeutics in pregnancy (e.g. animal models, placental transfusion, organ-on-a chip)
• Maternal-fetal transfer of antibodies generated by either autoimmune disease, viral infections or vaccination, which can increase our knowledge of how the placenta mediates this transfer
• Impact of maternal autoimmune diseases on the placenta and fetal health, including antiphospholipid syndrome and Rh isoimmunization
• Review of the issues related to implementation of vaccine trials in pregnancy, as well as recent successful trials and ongoing trials to broaden the spectrum of vaccines used in pregnancy


Dr. Anne Stevens is employed by Acelyrin, Inc., has had research support from Seagen and Kineta, Inc., and owns stock in Johnson and Johnson. The other topic editors declare no competing interests with regard to the topic theme.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: pregnancy, immunity, alloantibodies, autoantibodies, prematurity, preeclampsia, lupus, myasthenia gravis, Sjogren syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic inflammatory myositis, anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome, hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, fetal neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia, congenital heart block, therapeutics, placenta, fetus, Rh isoimmunization, vaccine

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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