June 3, 2021

SARS-CoV-2 Infects Syncytiotrophoblast and Activates Inflammatory Responses in the Placenta

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): clinical characteristics, immunity, pregnancy

• [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 23 placentas (41%) from a cohort of 55 women who had SARS-CoV-2 infection during late pregnancy and had positive PCR results at delivery. Among infected placentas, three had high viral content and were obtained from mothers who presented with severe COVID-19 and had perinatal adverse outcomes. Examination of the placentas with high viral load showed efficient SARS-CoV-2 infection restricted to  syncytiotrophoblast cells, which envelope the fetal chorionic villi and are in direct contact with maternal blood, and considerable infiltration of maternal immune cells.

Argueta et al. (June 2, 2021). SARS-CoV-2 Infects Syncytiotrophoblast and Activates Inflammatory Responses in the Placenta. Pre-print downloaded Jun 3 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.01.446676