Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's, University of London, London, UK.
MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, UK.
J Gen Virol. 2021 Nov;102(11). doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.001683.
Several viruses, including human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), are thought to replicate in the placenta. However, there is little understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in HCMV replication in this tissue. We investigated replication of HCMV in the extravillous trophoblast cell line SGHPL-4, a commonly used model of HCMV replication in the placenta. We found limited HCMV protein expression and virus replication in SGHPL-4 cells. This was associated with a lack of trophoblast progenitor cell protein markers in SGHPL-4 cells, suggesting a relationship between trophoblast differentiation and limited HCMV replication. We proposed that limited HCMV replication in trophoblast cells is advantageous to vertical transmission of HCMV, as there is a greater opportunity for vertical transmission when the placenta is intact and functional. Furthermore, when we investigated the replication of other vertically transmitted viruses in SGHPL-4 cells we found some limitation to replication of Zika virus, but not herpes simplex virus. Thus, limited replication of some, but not all, vertically transmitted viruses may be a feature of trophoblast cells.
一些病毒，包括人类巨细胞病毒（HCMV），被认为在胎盘内复制。然而，对于 HCMV 在这种组织中的复制所涉及的分子机制知之甚少。我们研究了 HCMV 在绒毛外滋养细胞系 SGHPL-4 中的复制，该细胞系是胎盘内 HCMV 复制的常用模型。我们发现 SGHPL-4 细胞中 HCMV 蛋白表达和病毒复制有限。这与 SGHPL-4 细胞中缺乏滋养层祖细胞蛋白标志物有关，表明滋养层分化与 HCMV 复制有限之间存在关系。我们提出，滋养层细胞中 HCMV 复制有限有利于 HCMV 的垂直传播，因为当胎盘完整且功能正常时，垂直传播的机会更大。此外，当我们研究 SGHPL-4 细胞中其他垂直传播病毒的复制时，我们发现寨卡病毒的复制受到一定限制，但单纯疱疹病毒不受限制。因此，一些（但不是全部）垂直传播病毒的复制有限可能是滋养层细胞的一个特征。
