Author:
Lum Fok-Moon,Narang Vipin,Hue Susan,Chen Jie,McGovern Naomi,Rajarethinam Ravisankar,Tan Jeslin J.L.,Amrun Siti Naqiah,Chan Yi-Hao,Lee Cheryl Y.P.,Chua Tze-Kwang,Yee Wearn-Xin,Yeo Nicholas K.W.,Tan Thiam-Chye,Liu Xuan,Haldenby Sam,Leo Yee-sin,Ginhoux Florent,Chan Jerry K.Y.,Hiscox Julian,Chong Chia-Yin,Ng Lisa F.P.
Abstract
AbstractZika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy is associated with neurologic birth defects, but the effects on placental development are unclear. Full-term placentas from three women, each infected with ZIKV during specific pregnancy trimesters, were harvested for anatomic, immunologic and transcriptomic analysis. In this study, each woman exhibited a unique immune response, but they collectively diverged from healthy controls with raised IL-1RA, IP-10, EGF and RANTES expression, and neutrophil numbers during the acute infection phase. Although ZIKV NS3 antigens co-localized to placental Hofbauer cells, the placentas showed no anatomical defects. Transcriptomic analysis of samples from the placentas revealed that infection during trimester 1 caused a disparate cellular response centered on differential eIF2 signaling, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative phosphorylation. These findings should translate to improve clinical prenatal screening procedures for virus-infected pregnant patients.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory