• Study participants include children up to and including 36 months who attend group child care and early childhood education settings located in Worcester and Cambridge

WORCESTER, Mass., Aug. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UMass Chan Medical School today announced it will begin enrolling participants at group child care and early childhood education settings in Worcester and Cambridge to examine the impact of cytomegalovirus (CMV) transmission. The study is a collaboration with Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA)-based therapeutics and vaccines, which is currently researching a vaccine for CMV.

The study, called CMV Transmission and Immune Tracking (CMVTransmIT), will examine how CMV spreads among children and between household members, with an aim to characterize immune responses to CMV infection over time. Findings from the study will inform the design of CMV prevention strategies, including awareness campaigns for CMV, to potentially reduce its spread in similar group settings.

CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects in the world. The virus can spread from pregnant women to their unborn children, a condition known as congenital CMV infection (cCMV). Infants with cCMV at birth are at risk for abnormal neurodevelopment, including hearing loss and microcephaly. Overall, nearly 20 percent of infants with cCMV have long-term effects from the virus.

The study is led by Laura Gibson, MD'94, associate professor of medicine at UMass Chan. Dr. Gibson has extensive expertise in congenital CMV infection, including studies of T-cell responses to CMV in children.

"By enrolling in the study, participants will learn more about the risk of CMV in their family's lives, while the study team will learn how to better understand transmission of this virus," said Gibson.

Participation in the study involves having the parent or guardian of the participant child complete an online eligibility assessment and survey about the child and their household, as well as having the child provide a saliva sample.

"With the dedicated leadership of Dr. Gibson, the CMV TransmIT Study is unique as it focuses on the transmission of CMV in the child care setting, which is a novel approach," said Lawrence Rhein, MD, MPH, the Stoddard Chair of Pediatrics and chair and professor of pediatrics at UMass Chan. "As a pediatrician, this study is important to help us better understand the spread of CMV in a large setting while also providing an opportunity to bring awareness of this common, yet rarely known, virus."

The study team appointed a Community Advisory Board to offer expertise in the areas of childcare, occupational safety and research, while also including community members, center parents and parents who have been affected by CMV. Through building relationships within the communities, the study team has already built a network of public and private licensed day care centers to participate in the study, including the YWCA of Central Massachusetts, which also participates on the Community Advisory Board.

"The YWCA of Central Massachusetts is proud to join and be the first early education and care center to partner with the UMass Chan Medical School to incorporate the CMV Transmission and Immune Tracking Study into our center," said Darlene Belliveau, director of children's services, YWCA of Central Massachusetts. "We joined the study to potentially have the ability to help shape the future of prenatal infections and be part of a community of like-minded people. We believe our work is not just with young children but with the whole family. Collaborating with UMass Chan will give us the opportunity to provide connections to community resources and support to help families thrive and potentially reduce the risk of CMV transmission."

"CMV is a complex virus, and approximately one in three children are infected before the age of 5. In addition, congenital CMV infection is the most common infectious cause of birth defects, and one out of every five newborns with congenital CMV infection will struggle with lifelong health problems including hearing loss and developmental disability," said Lori Panther, MD, MPH, Vice President, Clinical Development, Infectious Disease at Moderna. "Dr. Gibson's CMV Transmit study is an important effort to provide a better understanding of CMV transmission dynamics and immune response to infection."

Enrollment of group childcare and early childhood education settings in Worcester and Cambridge is ongoing with more information about the study and how to enroll available by visiting https://www.cmvtransmitstudy.com.

About UMass Chan Medical School

UMass Chan Medical School, one of five campuses of the University of Massachusetts system, comprises the T.H. Chan School of Medicine; the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing; ForHealth Consulting of UMass Chan Medical School, a public service consulting division; and MassBiologics, the only nonprofit, FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines, biologics and viral vector gene therapies in the United States. UMass Chan's mission is to advance the health and wellness of our diverse communities throughout Massachusetts and across the world by leading and innovating in education, research, health care delivery and public service. In doing so, it has built a reputation as a world-class research institution and as a leader in primary care education, perennially ranked in the top 10 percent of medical schools for primary care by U.S. News and World Report. UMass Chan attracts more than $300 million annually in research funding, placing it among the top 50 medical schools in the nation. In 2021, the Medical School received a $175 million donation from The Morningside Foundation and was renamed UMass Chan Medical School.