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COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women have been identified as a potentially at‐risk group concerning COVID‐19 infection, but little is known regarding the susceptibility of the fetus to infection. Co‐expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 has been identified as a prerequisite for infection, and expression across diffe...

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Autores principales: Beesley, MA, Davidson, JR, Panariello, F, Shibuya, S, Scaglioni, D, Jones, BC, Maksym, K, Ogunbiyi, O, Sebire, NJ, Cacchiarelli, D, David, AL, De Coppi, P, Gerli, MFM
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8652560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34735736
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16974
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author Beesley, MA
Davidson, JR
Panariello, F
Shibuya, S
Scaglioni, D
Jones, BC
Maksym, K
Ogunbiyi, O
Sebire, NJ
Cacchiarelli, D
David, AL
De Coppi, P
Gerli, MFM
author_facet Beesley, MA
Davidson, JR
Panariello, F
Shibuya, S
Scaglioni, D
Jones, BC
Maksym, K
Ogunbiyi, O
Sebire, NJ
Cacchiarelli, D
David, AL
De Coppi, P
Gerli, MFM
author_sort Beesley, MA
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Pregnant women have been identified as a potentially at‐risk group concerning COVID‐19 infection, but little is known regarding the susceptibility of the fetus to infection. Co‐expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 has been identified as a prerequisite for infection, and expression across different tissues is known to vary between children and adults. However, the expression of these proteins in the fetus is unknown. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of a single cell data repository. The data were then validated at both gene and protein level by performing RT‐qPCR and two‐colour immunohistochemistry on a library of second‐trimester human fetal tissues. FINDINGS: TMPRSS2 is present at both gene and protein level in the predominantly epithelial fetal tissues analysed. ACE2 is present at significant levels only in the fetal intestine and kidney, and is not expressed in the fetal lung. The placenta also does not co‐express the two proteins across the second trimester or at term. INTERPRETATION: This dataset indicates that the lungs are unlikely to be a viable route of SARS‐CoV2 fetal infection. The fetal kidney, despite presenting both the proteins required for the infection, is anatomically protected from the exposure to the virus. However, the gastrointestinal tract is likely to be susceptible to infection due to its high co‐expression of both proteins, as well as its exposure to potentially infected amniotic fluid. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: This work provides detailed mechanistic insight into the relative protection & vulnerabilities of the fetus & placenta to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection by scRNAseq & protein expression analysis for ACE2 & TMPRSS2. The findings help to explain the low rate of vertical transmission.
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spelling pubmed-86525602021-12-08 COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection Beesley, MA Davidson, JR Panariello, F Shibuya, S Scaglioni, D Jones, BC Maksym, K Ogunbiyi, O Sebire, NJ Cacchiarelli, D David, AL De Coppi, P Gerli, MFM BJOG Research Articles BACKGROUND: Pregnant women have been identified as a potentially at‐risk group concerning COVID‐19 infection, but little is known regarding the susceptibility of the fetus to infection. Co‐expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 has been identified as a prerequisite for infection, and expression across different tissues is known to vary between children and adults. However, the expression of these proteins in the fetus is unknown. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of a single cell data repository. The data were then validated at both gene and protein level by performing RT‐qPCR and two‐colour immunohistochemistry on a library of second‐trimester human fetal tissues. FINDINGS: TMPRSS2 is present at both gene and protein level in the predominantly epithelial fetal tissues analysed. ACE2 is present at significant levels only in the fetal intestine and kidney, and is not expressed in the fetal lung. The placenta also does not co‐express the two proteins across the second trimester or at term. INTERPRETATION: This dataset indicates that the lungs are unlikely to be a viable route of SARS‐CoV2 fetal infection. The fetal kidney, despite presenting both the proteins required for the infection, is anatomically protected from the exposure to the virus. However, the gastrointestinal tract is likely to be susceptible to infection due to its high co‐expression of both proteins, as well as its exposure to potentially infected amniotic fluid. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: This work provides detailed mechanistic insight into the relative protection & vulnerabilities of the fetus & placenta to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection by scRNAseq & protein expression analysis for ACE2 & TMPRSS2. The findings help to explain the low rate of vertical transmission. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-11-18 2022-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8652560/ /pubmed/34735736 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16974 Text en © 2021 The Authors. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Beesley, MA
Davidson, JR
Panariello, F
Shibuya, S
Scaglioni, D
Jones, BC
Maksym, K
Ogunbiyi, O
Sebire, NJ
Cacchiarelli, D
David, AL
De Coppi, P
Gerli, MFM
COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title_full COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title_fullStr COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title_full_unstemmed COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title_short COVID‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ACE2/TMPRSS2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
title_sort covid‐19 and vertical transmission: assessing the expression of ace2/tmprss2 in the human fetus and placenta to assess the risk of sars‐cov‐2 infection
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8652560/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34735736
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16974
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