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Commentary Open Access
Volume 5 | Issue 1 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.46439/immunol.5.040

Zika virus antibody patterns passed from mother to baby: insights from epitope-level mapping

  • 1Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil
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Corresponding Author

Paolo Marinho de Andrade Zanotto, pzanotto@usp.br

Received Date: November 30, 2025

Accepted Date: January 14, 2026

Abstract

This commentary contextualizes the findings reported in Soares et al. (Scientific Reports, 2025), which investigated maternal–newborn humoral immune interactions during Zika virus (ZIKV) infection using epitope-level mapping. In that study, paired sera from mother–newborn dyads were analyzed using SPOT-synthesis peptide arrays spanning the ZIKV proteome, revealing a high qualitative overlap of antibody targets between mothers and neonates, alongside marked quantitative differences in signal intensity. Immunodominant responses were primarily directed against Envelope (E) and NS5 proteins, while Capsid (C) and NS1 displayed differential recognition patterns. Here, we discuss the biological significance of these observations, emphasizing how transplacental IgG transfer preserves antigenic targeting while modulating response magnitude. We further explore translational implications for flavivirus sero-diagnostics and maternal vaccination strategies. No new experimental data are presented in this commentary.

Keywords

Zika virus, Congenital Zika, Maternal immunity, Neonatal immunity, Antibody transfer, B-cell epitopes, Flavivirus diagnostics

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