Pre-conception maternal helminth infection transfers via nursing long-lasting cellular immunity against helminths to offspring

Matthew G. Darby^1*, Alisha Chetty^1*, Dunja Mrjden^1†, Marion Rolot², Katherine Smith^1,3, , Claire Mackowiak⁴, Delphine Sedda⁴, Donald Nyangahu¹, Heather Jaspan^1,5, Kai-Michael Toellner⁶, Ari Waisman⁷, Valerie Quesniaux⁴, Bernhard Ryffel⁴, Adam F. Cunningham^6,8*, Benjamin G. Dewals^2*, Frank Brombacher^1,9,10‡, William G. C. Horsnell^1,8,4*‡

¹ Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.

² Fundamental and Applied Research in Animals and Health (FARAH), Immunology-Vaccinology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (B43b), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.

³ Institute of Infection and Immunity, University of Cardiff, Cardiff, UK.

⁴ Laboratory of Molecular and Experimental Immunology and Neuro-genetics, UMR 7355, CNRS-University of Orleans and Le Studium Institute for Advanced Studies, Rue Dupanloup, 45000 Orléans, France.

⁵ Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Departments of Paediatrics and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

⁶ Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy and School of Immunity and Infection, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT Birmingham, UK.

⁷ Institute for Molecular Medicine, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.

⁸ Institute of Microbiology and Infection, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT Birmingham, UK.

⁹ International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.

¹⁰ South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.

†Present address: Department of Pathology, Stanford Blood Center, Stanford University, 3373 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.

‡Corresponding author. Email: wghorsnell@gmail.com (W.G.C.H.); brombacherfrank@gmail.com (F.B.)