# Maternal Immune Responsiveness As CLinical Target for Preterm Birth Prevention (MIRACL)

> **NIH NIH K23** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $140,792

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Infants born preterm are nearly 20 times more likely to die compared to full term infants. Despite this, preterm
birth (PTB) biological mechanisms remain incompletely understood and no treatment reliably prevents or halts
the syndrome. Two thirds of PTBs are spontaneous (sPTB) and nearly half of severe sPTBs display evidence
of an inflammatory origin. Yet, monitoring and targeting of infectious exposures and inflammatory plasma
biomarkers neither predict nor prevent sPTB. Our highly novel pilot data suggest that biological signatures of
the maternal immune response during non-laboring pregnancy may contribute to the prediction of future
spontaneous birth timing as well as response to preventive intervention. The overall objective for this proposal
is to determine whether our proposed immune markers can serve as novel predictors of sPTB risk which could
be used in the future to design and test precision interventions aimed at preventing sPTB through
normalization of maternal immune function. To test this hypothesis, we will prospectively enroll in early
pregnancy and sample at two time points 150 pregnant women at risk for sPTB due to a prior history of sPTB,
expecting > 30% to develop sPTB in this pregnancy. We will quantify maternal immune parameters and
examine associations with future sPTB. We will perform statistical analyses to determine whether baseline
biologic profiles modify the effect of clinically-delivered preventive intervention on pregnancy prolongation. We
expect the “Maternal Immune Responsiveness As CLinical target for preterm birth prevention” (MIRACL) study
to result in data that shifts how we think about predicting sPTB and preventive intervention response. This work
will inform the design of future clinical trials aimed at preventing sPTB. Under the mentorship of a superbly
matched transdisciplinary team (immunobiology, prenatal epigenomics, prenatal translational science,
bioinformatics), this grant will also allow me to achieve my career development goal of becoming an expert in
prenatal immunobiology and an independent translational scientist with research focused on promoting the
health of mothers and saving the lives of infants by developing immune-based precision health strategies to
prevent complications of pregnancy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9959518
- **Project number:** 5K23NR017902-03
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Shannon L. Gillespie
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $140,792
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-20 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9959518

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9959518, Maternal Immune Responsiveness As CLinical Target for Preterm Birth Prevention (MIRACL) (5K23NR017902-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9959518. Licensed CC0.

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