The Impact of GBS Virulence Factors on Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcomes

7/19/2021

Emily Huebner, MS

about presenter

Emily Huebner is a third-year medical student at the University of Washington and a member of the distinguished Adams Waldorf laboratory in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She began working on GBS research with the Adams Waldorf lab in her first year of medical school and was subsequently awarded a grant from the Infectious Diseases Society of America for her research. She hopes to continue to conduct research through her remaining medical school years and on into her medical career with the goal of improving pregnancy outcomes for those with GBS infections.

Emily Huebner

7/19/2021 09:35:14 pm

Thank you for watching! Please reply with any comments or questions and I'll respond as soon as I can. Happy #ICGBS week!

Group B Strep International

7/19/2021 10:35:16 pm

Thank you for such clear explanations of the very impressive work you are doing to better understand how GBS goes from an asymptomatic colonizer to an infectious pathogen. Appreciate all you are doing to improve pregnancy outcomes! Happy #ICGBS week to you, too!

Helena Gromoz

7/20/2021 08:29:28 am

Love the analogies you used! I hope that all my patients can be adequately informed about GBS and I hope to use your explanation to aid in explaining potential outcomes and methods of infection to patients

Emily Huebner

7/22/2021 12:12:12 pm

That's so wonderful, thank you for your comment, Helena! I'm very glad this talk was beneficial in that way.

James Mcgregor

7/20/2021 09:50:04 am

Brilliant! Thanks . Do “NETS” play a role in impairing blood/nutrient flow in the placenta ? Do virulence factors act synergistically or additively?Are there local microbial (enzymes etc) or maternal( lymphatic, counter-current or iatrogenic factors that influence outcomes? Who was Theo bold Smith?

Emily Huebner

7/22/2021 12:11:20 pm

Hi James, thank you for these questions! I'll break up the answers to keep it clear.
1. This specific research didn't look into NETs, or neutrophil extracellular traps, but this paper was written by our collaborators at Seattle Children's and address NETs in ascending infections: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5089172/
2. That's what we want to know! We can guess that there are both additive features of GBS virulence factors in each of the environments that GBS has to traffic between to reach the fetus. However, we hope to use the clinical outcome data we have, in conjunction with our bacterial characterization to understand which factors consistently co-occur in certain outcomes.
3. I think there are absolutely local and maternal factors that influence outcomes! However, our research focuses on GBS virulence, specifically, as opposed to its interaction with host factors. I can briefly provide one example from other research that is also noted in a different comment, the cervical mucus plug has been studied to retain antibiotics in its cells and is then able to use those to kill GBS. That would most likely change the outcome of their GBS infection compared to someone who had no prior antibiotic use. This is just one example of a host of maternal and local factors.
4. If you mean Theobald* Smith, he was a pioneer of epidemiology and bacteriology. I don't think he directly worked in GBS though...

Shayna

7/21/2021 01:30:49 pm

I'm a parent and I want to thank you for taking the time to present this information because I now have a better understanding of how my daughter might've gotten GBS. When I found out she had GBS I had lots of questions and it wasn't until I found this website that I started getting answers and understanding. Your work means a lot to so many! Thank you <3

Emily Huebner

7/22/2021 11:57:02 am

Hi Shayna, your comment means so much! I'm so glad this talk was helpful and informative. Working in research that's inspired by patients and families is what makes me want to work that much harder to find solutions and improve care!

Marti Perhach

7/22/2021 09:34:58 am

Thank you for your research and presentation! Do you have any insight as to whether or not the presence of a mucous plug would significantly alter or slow down invasion of the amniotic cavity?

Emily Huebner

7/22/2021 11:54:26 am

Hi Marti, that's a great question! The cervical mucus plug has been studied a fair bit in ascending GBS infections because it really is this physical barrier that GBS has to sneak past. There was a great paper from 2018 that was written by Dr. Jay Vornhagen, who collaborated with the same collaborators I work with, the Rajagopal lab at Seattle Children's. The link to the paper is below, but one of their conclusions was that the mucus plug itself isn't bactericidal, but it can retain antibiotics in its cells and induce a neutrophil response to fight GBS, but further testing is needed to understand it's active role in allowing/preventing ascending infections.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/217/10/1626/4841651

Marti Perhach

7/22/2021 05:30:18 pm

Thank you for your answer and the link to that very interesting article!

Megan

7/22/2021 10:04:18 am

Have you noted any difference in virulence factors when moms experience vaginitis symptoms possibly from GBS? Or when moms have GBS in their urine?

Emily Huebner

7/22/2021 11:41:11 am

Hi Megan! That's a really interesting question. Our bacterial isolates were obtained from blood, vaginal swabs, and joint aspirations, we didn't have any urine samples to test. That would be a great next step for our research, however!

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The Impact of GBS Virulence Factors on Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcomes

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The Impact of GBS Virulence Factors on Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcomes

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