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Bordt EA, Shook LL, Atyeo C, Pullen KM, De Guzman RM, Meinsohn MC, Chauvin M, Fischinger S, Yockey LJ, James K, Lima R, Yonker LM, Fasano A, Brigida S, Bebell LM, Roberts DJ, Pépin D, Huh JR, Bilbo SD, Li JZ, Kaimal A, Schust DJ, Gray KJ, Lauffenburger D, Alter G, Edlow AG. Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection elicits sexually dimorphic placental immune responses. Sci Transl Med 2021; 13:eabi7428. [PMID: 34664987 PMCID: PMC8784281 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi7428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
There is a persistent bias toward higher prevalence and increased severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in males. Underlying mechanisms accounting for this sex difference remain incompletely understood. Interferon responses have been implicated as a modulator of COVID-19 disease in adults and play a key role in the placental antiviral response. Moreover, the interferon response has been shown to alter Fc receptor expression and therefore may affect placental antibody transfer. Here, we examined the intersection of maternal-fetal antibody transfer, viral-induced placental interferon responses, and fetal sex in pregnant women infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Placental Fc receptor abundance, interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression, and SARS-CoV-2 antibody transfer were interrogated in 68 human pregnancies. Sexually dimorphic expression of placental Fc receptors, ISGs and proteins, and interleukin-10 was observed after maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection, with up-regulation of these features in placental tissue of pregnant individuals with male fetuses. Reduced maternal SARS-CoV-2–specific antibody titers and impaired placental antibody transfer were also observed in pregnancies with a male fetus. These results demonstrate fetal sex-specific maternal and placental adaptive and innate immune responses to SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan A. Bordt
- Department of Pediatrics, Lurie Center for Autism, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Lydia L. Shook
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Caroline Atyeo
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- PhD Program in Virology, Division of Medical Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Krista M. Pullen
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Rose M. De Guzman
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Marie-Charlotte Meinsohn
- Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Maeva Chauvin
- Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | - Laura J. Yockey
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Kaitlyn James
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Rosiane Lima
- Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Lael M. Yonker
- Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Alessio Fasano
- Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- European Biomedical Research Institute of Salerno (EBRIS), Salerno, Italy
| | - Sara Brigida
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Lisa M. Bebell
- Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Drucilla J. Roberts
- Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - David Pépin
- Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Jun R. Huh
- Department of Immunology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Staci D. Bilbo
- Department of Pediatrics, Lurie Center for Autism, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Jonathan Z. Li
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Anjali Kaimal
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Danny J. Schust
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USA
| | - Kathryn J. Gray
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Douglas Lauffenburger
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Galit Alter
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Andrea G. Edlow
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
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52
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Widera M, Wilhelm A, Toptan T, Raffel JM, Kowarz E, Roesmann F, Grözinger F, Siemund AL, Luciano V, Külp M, Reis J, Bracharz S, Pallas C, Ciesek S, Marschalek R. Generation of a Sleeping Beauty Transposon-Based Cellular System for Rapid and Sensitive Screening for Compounds and Cellular Factors Limiting SARS-CoV-2 Replication. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:701198. [PMID: 34394046 PMCID: PMC8362758 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.701198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19, which has become a global concern due to its rapid spread. The common methods to monitor and quantitate SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in cell culture are so far time-consuming and labor-intensive. Using the Sleeping Beauty transposase system, we generated a robust and versatile cellular infection model that allows SARS-CoV-2 infection experiments compatible for high-throughput and live cell imaging. The model is based on lung derived A549 cells, which show a profound interferon response and convenient cell culture characteristics. ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were introduced for constitutive expression (A549-AT). Subclones with varying levels of ACE2/TMPRSS2 were screened for optimal SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Furthermore, extensive evaluation demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infected A549-AT cells were distinguishable from mock-infected cells and already showed approximately 12 h post infection a clear signal to noise ratio in terms of cell roughness, fluorescence and a profound visible cytopathic effect. Moreover, due to the high transfection efficiency and proliferation capacity, Sleeping Beauty transposase-based overexpression cell lines with a second inducible fluorescence reporter cassette (eGFP) can be generated in a very short time, enabling the investigation of host and restriction factors in a doxycycline-inducible manner. Thus, the novel model cell line allows rapid and sensitive monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the screening for host factors essential for viral replication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Widera
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alexander Wilhelm
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Tuna Toptan
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Johanna M Raffel
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Eric Kowarz
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Fabian Roesmann
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Finn Grözinger
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Anna Lena Siemund
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Vanessa Luciano
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Marius Külp
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jennifer Reis
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Silvia Bracharz
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Christiane Pallas
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sandra Ciesek
- Institute for Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.,Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Branch Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Rolf Marschalek
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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53
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Kacar M, Cortes-Acevedo P, Patel V, Carter C, Hughes P, McGann HP, Gkrania-Klotsas E, Baxendale HE, Barcenas-Morales G, Doffinger R, Savic S. Neutralizing Anti-interferon-γ Autoantibodies: an Ameliorating Factor in COVID-19 Infection? J Clin Immunol 2021; 41:1531-1535. [PMID: 34309742 PMCID: PMC8311417 DOI: 10.1007/s10875-021-01102-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Kacar
- Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds, Wellcome Trust Brenner Building, St. James University, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF, UK.,Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | | | - Vinesh Patel
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | - Clive Carter
- Department of Transplant and Cellular Immunology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | - Pamela Hughes
- Department of Transplant and Cellular Immunology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | - Hugh P McGann
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | | | | | | | - Rainer Doffinger
- Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK
| | - Sinisa Savic
- Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds, Wellcome Trust Brenner Building, St. James University, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF, UK. .,Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK.
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