Kasahara TM, Monteiro C, Hygino J, et al. - Researchers analyzed HIV-infected pregnant women (PW) to determine the frequency of different follicular helper T cells (T_FH)-like cells prior to and following antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in these women, given HIV-1 infection compromises protective humoral immune response by damaging T_FH. From asymptomatic HIV-1-infected non-PW and PW, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, CD4+ T and B cells were collected just prior to and following ARV therapy. Healthy HIV-1 negatives PW were also examined in some experiments. In HIV-1-infected women, the recovery of TFH-like cells after ARV therapy was shown to be favored by pregnancy, this effect could aid in protecting newborns from infectious diseases by transferring IgG across the placenta.