Placental response to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 14390, 2021 07 13.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1309469
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected people at all ages. Whereas pregnant women seemed to have a worse course of disease than age-matched non-pregnant women, the risk of feto-placental infection is low. Using a cohort of 66 COVID-19-positive women in late pregnancy, we correlated clinical parameters with disease severity, placental histopathology, and the expression of viral entry and Interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) antiviral transcripts. All newborns were negative for SARS-CoV-2. None of the demographic parameters or placental histopathological characteristics were associated with disease severity. The fetal-maternal transfer ratio for IgG against the N or S viral proteins was commonly less than one, as recently reported. We found that the expression level of placental ACE2, but not TMPRSS2 or Furin, was higher in women with severe COVID-19. Placental expression of IFITM1 and IFITM3, which have been implicated in antiviral response, was higher in participants with severe disease. We also showed that IFITM3 protein expression, which localized to early and late endosomes, was enhanced in severe COVID-19. Our data suggest an association between disease severity and placental SARS-CoV-2 processing and antiviral pathways, implying a role for these proteins in placental response to SARS-CoV-2.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Placenta
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Pregnancy
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-93931-0
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