Constantino Flávia Bessi, Cury Sarah Santiloni, Nogueira Celia Regina, Carvalho Robson Francisco, Justulin Luis Antonio
Department of Structural and Functional Biology, Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.
Department of Internal Clinic, Botucatu Medicine School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.
Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Nov 8;8:614728. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.614728. eCollection 2021.
The SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data available about COVID-19 during pregnancy have demonstrated placental infection; however, the mechanisms associated with intrauterine transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is still debated. Intriguingly, while canonical SARS-CoV-2 cell entry mediators are expressed at low levels in placental cells, the receptors for viruses that cause congenital infections such as the cytomegalovirus and Zika virus are highly expressed in these cells. Here we analyzed the transcriptional profile (microarray and single-cell RNA-Seq) of proteins potentially interacting with coronaviruses to identify non- canonical mediators of SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in the placenta. Despite low levels of the canonical cell entry mediators and , we show that cells of the syncytiotrophoblast, villous cytotrophoblast, and extravillous trophoblast co-express high levels of the potential non-canonical cell-entry mediators and . We also found changes in the expression of and genes during pregnancy, which are translated into proteins also predicted to interact with coronaviruses proteins. These results provide new insight into the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host proteins that may act as non-canonical routes for SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in the placenta cells.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）是新冠疫情的病原体。目前有关孕期新冠病毒感染（COVID-19）的数据已证实存在胎盘感染；然而，SARS-CoV-2宫内传播的相关机制仍存在争议。有趣的是，虽然典型的SARS-CoV-2细胞进入介质在胎盘细胞中的表达水平较低，但导致先天性感染的病毒（如巨细胞病毒和寨卡病毒）的受体在这些细胞中高度表达。在此，我们分析了可能与冠状病毒相互作用的蛋白质的转录谱（微阵列和单细胞RNA测序），以确定SARS-CoV-2在胎盘中感染和复制的非典型介质。尽管典型的细胞进入介质水平较低，但我们发现合体滋养层细胞、绒毛细胞滋养层细胞和绒毛外滋养层细胞共表达高水平的潜在非典型细胞进入介质。我们还发现孕期 和 基因的表达发生了变化，这些变化转化为预测也会与冠状病毒蛋白相互作用的蛋白质。这些结果为SARS-CoV-2与宿主蛋白之间的相互作用提供了新的见解，这些宿主蛋白可能是SARS-CoV-2在胎盘细胞中感染和复制的非典型途径。
