bims-reprim 2022-04-10 papers

Issue of 2022–04–10
two papers selected by
Iva Filipovic, Karolinska Institutet

J Immunol. 2022 Apr 04. pii: ji2101123. [Epub ahead of print]

Distinct Cellular Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Pregnant Women.

Nardhy Gomez-Lopez, Roberto Romero, Li Tao, Meyer Gershater, Yaozhu Leng, Chengrui Zou, Marcelo Farias-Jofre, Jose Galaz, Derek Miller, Adi L Tarca, Marcia Arenas-Hernandez, Gaurav Bhatti, Valeria Garcia-Flores, Zhenjie Liu, Robert Para, Tomi Kanninen, Ola Hadaya, Carmen Paredes, Yi Xu.

Pregnant women are at increased risk of adverse outcomes, including preeclampsia and preterm birth, that may result from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Pregnancy imprints specific maternal immune responses that can modulate host susceptibility to microbial infection; therefore, recent studies have focused on the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant women. However, the pregnancy-specific cellular immune responses triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection are poorly understood. In this study, we undertook an extensive in vitro investigation to determine the cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 particles and proteins/peptides in pregnant women. First, we show that SARS-CoV-2 particles do not alter the pregnancy-specific oxidative burst of neutrophils and monocytes. Yet, SARS-CoV-2 particles/proteins shift monocyte activation from the classical to intermediate states in pregnant, but not in nonpregnant, women. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 proteins, but not particles or peptide pools, mildly enhance T cell activation during pregnancy. As expected, B cell phenotypes are heavily modulated by SARS-CoV-2 particles in all women; yet, pregnancy itself further modified such responses in these adaptive immune cells. Lastly, we report that pregnancy itself governs cytokine responses in the maternal circulation, of which IFN-β and IL-8 were diminished upon SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Collectively, these findings highlight the differential in vitro responses to SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant and nonpregnant women and shed light on the immune mechanisms implicated in coronavirus disease 2019 during pregnancy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2101123

Immunol Rev. 2022 Apr 04.

Role of hormones in the pregnancy and sex-specific outcomes to infections with respiratory viruses.

Orlando Cervantes, Irene Cruz Talavera, Emma Every, Brahm Coler, Miranda Li, Amanda Li, Hanning Li, Kristina Adams Waldorf.

Pregnant women infected with pathogenic respiratory viruses, such as influenza A viruses (IAV) and coronaviruses, are at higher risk for mortality, hospitalization, preterm birth, and stillbirth. Several factors are likely to contribute to the susceptibility of pregnant individuals to severe lung disease including changes in pulmonary physiology, immune defenses, and effector functions of some immune cells. Pregnancy is also a physiologic state characterized by higher levels of multiple hormones that may impact the effector functions of immune cells, such as progesterone, estrogen, human chorionic gonadotropin, prolactin, and relaxin. Each of these hormones acts to support a tolerogenic immune state of pregnancy, which helps prevent fetal rejection, but may also contribute to an impaired antiviral response. In this review, we address the unique role of adaptive and innate immune cells in the control of pathogenic respiratory viruses and how pregnancy and specific hormones can impact their effector actions. We highlight viruses with sex-specific differences in infection outcomes and why pregnancy hormones may contribute to fetal protection but aid the virus at the expense of the mother's health.

Keywords: COVID-19; estrogen; influenza; pneumonia; pregnancy; progesterone; virus

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/imr.13078