When a pregnant woman is exposed to a virus, it activates her immune response and influences the level of certain immune proteins in the body of her fetus. (scientificamerican.com)
The enzymes are important because they generate antibodies and other immune proteins needed to recognize and kill an ever - changing variety of infectious organisms. (sciencenews.org)
A key immune protein wasn't produced and thus was not fighting the virus. (sciencemag.org)