{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,31]],"date-time":"2026-03-31T03:32:19Z","timestamp":1774927939446,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,21]],"date-time":"2022-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1663718400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Children in low-mid income countries, and First Nations children in high-income countries, experience disproportionately high rates of <jats:italic>Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Haemophilus influenzae<\/jats:italic> infections and diseases including pneumonia and otitis media. We previously observed that infants from Papua New Guinea had no evidence of waning maternal immunity for <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic>-specific antibodies. In this study, we assessed <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> antibody titres in Australian First Nation mothers and infants to determine antigen-specific antibody ontogenies and whether <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> antibody titres in infants were due to low maternal antibody titres or lack of placental transfer.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Breast milk, infant nasopharyngeal swabs and ear assessment data were collected 1-, 2-, 7-months post-birth as well as maternal, cord and 7-month-old infant sera, from 85 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mother-infant pairs. Serum IgG and breast milk IgG and IgA antibody titres to <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic> antigens (PspA1, PspA2, CbpA, Ply) and <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> antigens (PD, ChimV4, OMP26, rsPilA) were measured.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>IgG titres in maternal and cord sera were similar for all antigens, except Ply (higher in cord; p=0.004). Sera IgG titres at 7-months of age were lower than cord sera IgG titres for all <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic> antigens (p&amp;lt;0.001). Infant sera IgG titres were higher than cord sera for <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> PD (p=0.029), similar for OMP26 (p=0.817) and rsPilA (p=0.290), and lower for ChimV4 (p=0.004). Breast milk titres were similar for all antigens at 1, 2 and 7-months except OMP26 IgA (lower at 7-months than 1-month; p=0.035), PspA2 IgG (p=0.012) and Ply IgG that increased by 7-months (p=0.032). One third of infants carried nontypeable <jats:italic>Haemophilus influenzae<\/jats:italic> (NTHi), 45% carried <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae and<\/jats:italic> 52% had otitis media (OM) observed at least once over the 7-months. 73% of infants who carried either <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae or<\/jats:italic> NTHi, also had otitis media observed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Similarities between maternal and cord IgG titres, and absence of waning, support a lack of maternal <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> IgG antibodies available for cross-placental transfer. Increased maternal anti-PD IgG could offer some protection from early carriage with NTHi, and maternal immunisation strategies should be considered for passive-active immunisation of infants to protect against <jats:italic>S. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>H. influenzae<\/jats:italic> diseases.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:uri>ClinicalTrials.gov<\/jats:uri> NCT00714064 and NCT00310349.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2022.1005344","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,22]],"date-time":"2022-09-22T07:48:25Z","timestamp":1663832905000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Evidence of maternal transfer of antigen-specific antibodies in serum and breast milk to infants at high-risk of S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae disease"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Kelly 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