Serum proteomics of infants in utero exposed to Zika virus without Congenital Zika Syndrome

In 2015, ZIKV infection attracted international attention during an epidemic in the Americas, when neurological disorders were reported in babies who had their mothers exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy. World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiological data show that 5 to 15% of neonates exposed to ZIKV in the uterus have complications included in abnormalities related to Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). The risk of complications after birth is not well documented, however, clinical evidence shows that 6% of babies exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy have complications present at birth, and this rate rises to 14% when medical monitoring is performed in all exposed babies, regardless of birth condition. Thus, the evaluation and monitoring of all exposed babies are of foremost importance as the development of late complications has been increasingly supported by clinical evidence. The identification of molecular markers in infants exposed to ZIKV without CZS could provide valuable means to improve their clinical monitoring. Here, we used a shotgun-proteomic approach to investigate molecular markers in the serum of infants without CZS symptoms but exposed to ZIKV intrauterine (ZIKV) compared to non-exposed controls (CTRL).