A message from the human placenta: structural and immunomodulatory defense against SARS-CoV-2
- The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global public health crisis. Viral infections may predispose pregnant women to a higher rate of pregnancy complications, including preterm births, miscarriage and stillbirth. Despite reports of neonatal COVID-19, definitive proof of vertical transmission is still lacking. In this review, we summarize studies regarding the potential evidence for transplacental transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), characterize the expression of its receptors and proteases, describe the placental pathology and analyze virus-host interactions at the maternal-fetal interface. We focus on the syncytium, the barrier between mother and fetus, and describe in detail its physical andstructuraldefenseagainstviralinfections. Wefurtherdiscussthepotentialmolecularmechanisms, whereby the placenta serves as a defense front against pathogens by regulating the interferon type III signaling, microRNA-triggered autophagy and the nuclear factor-κB pathway. Based on these data, we conclude that vertical transmission may occur but rare, ascribed to the potent physical barrier, the fine-regulatedplacentalimmunedefenseandmodulationstrategies. Particularly,immunomodulatory mechanismsemployedbytheplacentamaymitigateviolentimmuneresponse,maybesoftencytokine storm tightly associated with severely ill COVID-19 patients, possibly minimizing cell and tissue damages, and potentially reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
Author: | Nina-Naomi KreisORCiDGND, Andreas Hans RitterORCiDGND, Frank LouwenORCiDGND, Juping YuanORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-554938 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9081777 |
ISSN: | 2073-4409 |
Parent Title (English): | Cells |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Place of publication: | Basel |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2020/07/25 |
Date of first Publication: | 2020/07/25 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2020/09/03 |
Tag: | COVID-19; NF-κB pathway; SARS-CoV-2; immune defense; interferon type III; miRNA; placenta; vertical transmission |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 8, art. 1777 |
Page Number: | 24 |
First Page: | 1 |
Last Page: | 24 |
Note: | © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
HeBIS-PPN: | 469522518 |
Institutes: | Medizin |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds: | Medizin |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0 |