Decoupling of maternal and neonatal inflammatory levels at the maternal-fetal interface: evidence from a population-based proteomic study

Background Maternal inflammation during pregnancy has been linked to offspring physical and neurodevelopmental health. This association has been hypothesized to operate through fetal immune responses. Yet, population-based evidence exploring the relationship between maternal and neonatal inflammation remains limited. This study investigates the associations of maternal inflammatory markers measured in the third trimester and at birth with neonatal inflammatory profiles at birth. Methods Interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-17a (pg/mL), and CRP (mg/L) levels were measured in maternal plasma at birth and in the third trimester and standardized for the at-birth and third-trimester subset. In the neonates, 92 inflammatory markers were measured in Dried Blood Spots using Olink ® . We used linear regression models with empirical Bayes moderation to investigate the association between maternal inflammatory marker levels at each timepoint and neonatal inflammatory marker levels. We adjusted for maternal factors, child factors, and technical factors. We applied the false discovery rate (FDR-adjusted p -value