Maternal-Fetal Immune Responses in Pregnant Women Infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract

Pregnant women are a high-risk population for severe/critical COVID-19 and mortality. However, the maternal-fetal immune responses initiated by SARS-CoV-2 infection, and whether this virus is detectable in the placenta, are still under investigation. Herein, we report that SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy primarily induced specific maternal inflammatory responses in the circulation and at the maternal-fetal interface, the latter being governed by T cells and macrophages. SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy was also associated with a cytokine response in the fetal circulation (i.e. umbilical cord blood) without compromising the cellular immune repertoire. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 infection neither altered fetal cellular immune responses in the placenta nor induced elevated cord blood levels of IgM. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the placental tissues, nor was the sterility of the placenta compromised by maternal viral infection. This study provides insight into the maternal-fetal immune responses triggered by SARS-CoV-2 and further emphasizes the rarity of placental infection.

• Authors: Valeria Garcia-Flores, Roberto Romero, Yi Xu, Kevin Theis, Marcia Arenas-Hernandez, Derek Miller, Azam Peyvandipour, Jose Galaz, Dustyn Levenson, Gaurav Bhatti, Meyer Gershater, Errile Pusod, David Kracht, Violetta Florova, Yaozhu Leng, Li Tao, Megan Faucett, Robert Para, Chaur-Dong Hsu, Gary Zhang, Adi L Tarca, Roger Pique-Regi, Nardhy Gomez-Lopez
• Journal: Research square (Res Sq) (Mar 31 2021) United States
• PMID: 33821263 (Publication Type: Preprint)