{"doi":"10.3390/cells14040284","title":"Prenatal SARS-CoV-2 Infection Alters Human Milk-Derived Extracellular Vesicles","abstract":"Human milk-derived extracellular vesicles (HMEVs) are key components in breast milk, promoting infant health and development. Maternal conditions could affect HMEV cargo; however, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on HMEVs remains unknown. This study investigated the influence of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on postpartum HMEV molecules. The median duration from SARS-CoV-2 test positivity to milk collection was 3 months. After defatting and casein micelle disaggregation, HMEVs were isolated from milk samples of nine mothers with prenatal SARS-CoV-2 and six controls by sequential centrifugation, ultrafiltration, and qEV-size exclusion chromatography. The presence of HMEV was confirmed via transmission electron microscopy. Nanoparticle tracking analysis demonstrated particle diameters of <200 nm and yields of >1 × 1011 particles per mL of milk. Western immunoblots detected ALIX, CD9, and HSP70, supporting the presence of HMEVs in the isolates. Cargo from thousands of HMEVs were analyzed using a multi-omics approach, including proteomics and microRNA sequencing, and predicted that mothers with prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection produced HMEVs with enhanced functionalities involving metabolic reprogramming, mucosal tissue development, and immunomodulation. Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy boosts mucosal site-specific functions of HMEVs, potentially protecting infants against viral infections. Further prospective studies should be pursued to reevaluate the short- and long-term benefits of breastfeeding in the post-COVID era.","journal":"Cells","year":2025,"id":530438,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9626,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1229377,"name":"Supasek Kongsomros","orcid":"0000-0001-7052-6495","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1229376,"name":"Hatice Çetinkaya","orcid":"0000-0002-9792-5928","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":505167,"name":"Xiang Zhang","orcid":"0000-0002-7371-4085","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":66206,"name":"Damaris Kuhnell","orcid":"0000-0002-0499-4415","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1410138,"name":"Desirée Benefield","orcid":"0000-0002-7953-6793","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":481512,"name":"Wendy D. Haffey","orcid":"0000-0001-7957-280X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":455025,"name":"Michael A. Wyder","orcid":"0000-0001-7355-2250","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":616504,"name":"Gaurav Kwatra","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":979155,"name":"Shannon C Conrey","orcid":"0000-0003-3715-5842","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":979156,"name":"Allison R Burrell","orcid":"0000-0002-2271-8430","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":36577,"name":"Scott M. Langevin","orcid":"0000-0001-7031-1216","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":891989,"name":"Leyla Esfandiari","orcid":"0000-0001-6851-1198","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1135961,"name":"David S. Newburg","orcid":"0000-0001-6042-7303","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":87808,"name":"Kenneth D. Greis","orcid":"0000-0002-5316-3351","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236964,"name":"Mary Allen Staat","orcid":"0000-0003-1788-8037","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":550150,"name":"Ardythe L. Morrow","orcid":"0000-0002-1126-4525","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":273730,"name":"Somchai Chutipongtanate","orcid":"0000-0001-6398-5626","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":56,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:51:05.836974Z","pmid":"39996756","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}