Researchers now know how amped-up antibodies work in pregnant women. That could be a game-changer...

Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center now have a better understanding of how a pregnant woman's body protects a baby from infection. Scientists now hope to use that information to “mimic these amped-up antibodies” to produce new drugs and improve vaccines.

The discoveries are published in the June 8 edition of the journal Nature.

Lead author John Erickson, MD, Ph.d., says it involves the body’s ability to change the structure of certain sugars attached to antibodies. “It’s really small changes," he says. "It really comes down to only being about six atoms that are removed from the antibody during pregnancy that allows it to become a very protective antibody in the baby.”

Scientists used to think antibodies couldn’t get inside cells, but with the changes during pregnancy, it shows they can.