Authors
Alice Lu-Culligan, Arun R Chavan, Pavithra Vijayakumar, Lina Irshaid, Edward M Courchaine, Kristin M Milano, Zhonghua Tang, Scott D Pope, Eric Song, Chantal BF Vogels, William J Lu-Culligan, Katherine H Campbell, Arnau Casanovas-Massana, Santos Bermejo, Jessica M Toothaker, Hannah J Lee, Feimei Liu, Wade Schulz, John Fournier, M Catherine Muenker, Adam J Moore, Liza Konnikova, Karla M Neugebauer, Aaron Ring, Nathan D Grubaugh, Albert I Ko, Raffaella Morotti, Seth Guller, Harvey J Kliman, Akiko Iwasaki, Shelli F Farhadian
Publication date
2021/5/14
Journal
Med
Volume
2
Issue
5
Pages
591-610. e10
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
Background
Pregnant women are at increased risk for severe outcomes from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the pathophysiology underlying this increased morbidity and its potential effect on the developing fetus is not well understood.
Methods
We assessed placental histology, ACE2 expression, and viral and immune dynamics at the term placenta in pregnant women with and without respiratory severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.
Findings
The majority (13 of 15) of placentas analyzed had no detectable viral RNA. ACE2 was detected by immunohistochemistry in syncytiotrophoblast cells of the normal placenta during early pregnancy but was rarely seen in healthy placentas at full term, suggesting that low ACE2 expression may protect the term placenta from viral infection. Using immortalized cell lines and primary isolated placental cells, we found that …
Total citations
Scholar articles
A Lu-Culligan, AR Chavan, P Vijayakumar, L Irshaid… - Med, 2021