Role of peripheral blood mononuclear cell transportation from mother to baby in HBV intrauterine infection.

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the role of peripheral blood mononuclear cell transportation from mother to baby in hepatitis B virus (HBV) intrauterine infection.

METHODS: Thirty HBsAg-positive pregnant women in the second trimester and their aborted fetuses were included in this study. Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent-assay was utilized to detect HBsAg in the peripheral blood of pregnant women and the femoral vein blood of their aborted fetuses. HBV-DNA in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and GSTM1 alleles of pregnant women and their aborted fetuses were detected by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and seminested PCR, respectively. We also examined the location of placenta HBsAg and HBcAb using immunohistochemical staining. The expression of placenta HBV-DNA was detected by in situ hybridization.

RESULTS: For the 30 aborted fetuses, the HBV intrauterine infection rate was 43.33%. The HBV-positive rates of HBsAg in peripheral blood, serum, and PBMC were 10% (3/30), 23.33% (7/30), and 33.33% (10/30), respectively. Maternal-fetal PBMC transport was significantly positively correlated with fetal PBMC HBV-DNA (P = 0.004). Meanwhile, the rates of HBV infection gradually decreased from the maternal side to the fetus side of placenta (decidual cells > trophoblastic cells > villous mesenchymal cells > villous capillary endothelial cells). However, no significant correlation between placenta HBV infection and HBV intrauterine infection was observed (P = 0.410).

CONCLUSIONS: HBV intrauterine infection was primarily due to peripheral blood mononuclear cell maternal-fetal transportation in the second trimester in pregnant women.