# CMV infection impact on placental immunometabolism and fetal immunity

> **NIH NIH R01** · TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA · 2024 · $408,072

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous species-specific betaherpesvirus that results in life-long persistent
asymptomatic infection in an immunocompetent host. Human CMV (HCMV) is the most common infectious
cause of congenital infection, complicating 40,000 births in the U.S. annually. In utero CMV transmission occurs
in 33-50% of pregnant CMV-seronegative women with primary infection; it also occurs after non-primary
infection in pregnant CMV-seropositive women so that regions of high CMV seroprevalence account for a major
part of the global burden of congenital CMV. Studies in mice and humans have shown that CMV has profound
effects on both the innate and adaptive immune system. However, there is a gap in knowledge of when CMV
imprints the immune system and whether maternal CMV infection during pregnancy can affect fetal
development and immunity even in the absence of CMV transmission. In this grant, our aim is to study the effect
of maternal exposure to CMV infection on fetal immunity using a biologically relevant rhesus macaque
nonhuman primate (NHP) animal model of HCMV. We hypothesize that maternal exposure to CMV infection
during pregnancy induces perturbation of cellular metabolism that adversely affect immune cell populations
utilizing common metabolic pathways, leading to (i) hitherto unrecognized impact of CMV-mediated metabolic
dysregulation on innate and adaptive immunity at the maternal-fetal interface, and (ii) epigenetic modifications
and functional effects on fetal T and B lymphocytes, monocytes and NK cells. We will utilize a combined
approach of cellular immunology assays, transcriptomics and metabolomics to investigate the effect of CMV
infection on placental immunometabolism and fetal immunity in the NHP model. Our specific aims are: #1. To
investigate the effect of chronic maternal CMV infection on placental immunometabolism and fetal immunity;
and #2. To determine the effect of experimental primary CMV infection during pregnancy on placental
immunometabolism and fetal immunity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873959
- **Project number:** 5R01HD107790-03
- **Recipient organization:** TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
- **Principal Investigator:** Amitinder Kaur
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $408,072
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873959

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873959, CMV infection impact on placental immunometabolism and fetal immunity (5R01HD107790-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873959. Licensed CC0.

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