Maternal Immune Activation

How it works

Risks & contraindications

Highlighted claims

• Normal pregnancy requires epigenetic reprogramming that downregulates Th1 responses and promotes Th2 and T-regulatory cells to prevent immune attack on the genetically foreign fetus. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Gestational diabetes reverses the protective pregnancy immune shift and produces a pro-inflammatory maternal bloodstream that passes cytokines across the placenta to the developing fetal brain. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Chronic stress produces tonic NF-κB activation through cortisol receptor resistance, and adverse childhood events can reprogram the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis into this dysregulated state persisting into pregnancy. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Colostrum from mothers with gestational diabetes contains elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-15) and reduced anti-inflammatory IL-1RA, transmitting dysregulated immune signals to infants after birth. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Maternal obesity alone doubles baseline ASD risk in offspring. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Maternal autoantibodies against fetal brain proteins including CRMP1 and CRMP2 form in response to toxin exposure, nutritional shifts, or infection and destroy fetal neurological development throughout pregnancy. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis
• Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is associated with an odds ratio of 1.94 for ASD at one year. — The Growing Brain: Upstream Causes of the Neurodevelopmental Crisis