Childhood Epilepsy and Maternal Antibodies to Microbial and Tissue Antigens During Pregnancy

Epilepsy Research, 10/10/2013 Clinical Article

Sun Y et al. – Several epidemiologic studies show associations between mother's infections during pregnancy and an increased risk of mental and neurological disorders in the offspring. Such associations could be due to the direct or indirect effects of infectious agents, including immune responses to infectious agents that display molecular mimicry with host antigens. The authors measured a range of antigen–specific maternal IgG antibodies to examine if any were associated with risk for childhood epilepsy in offspring. Maternal anti–HSV1and anti–PnPS18 antibodies during pregnancy may be associated with the risk of epilepsy in offspring, but any potential etiologic and preventative implications of these associations warrant further exploration.