1. Genetics and Genomics
  2. Medicine

Does the human placenta express the canonical cell entry mediators for SARS-CoV-2?

  1. Roger Pique-Regi  Is a corresponding author
  2. Roberto Romero  Is a corresponding author
  3. Adi L Tarca
  4. Francesca Luca
  5. Yi Xu
  6. Adnan Alazizi
  7. Yaozhu Leng
  8. Chaur-Dong Hsu
  9. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez  Is a corresponding author
  1. Wayne State University, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58716
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Cite this article
  1. Roger Pique-Regi
  2. Roberto Romero
  3. Adi L Tarca
  4. Francesca Luca
  5. Yi Xu
  6. Adnan Alazizi
  7. Yaozhu Leng
  8. Chaur-Dong Hsu
  9. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez
(2020)
Does the human placenta express the canonical cell entry mediators for SARS-CoV-2?
eLife 9:e58716.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58716
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Abstract

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected more than 10 million people, including pregnant women. To date, no consistent evidence for the vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 exists. The novel coronavirus canonically utilizes the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and the serine protease TMPRSS2 for cell entry. Herein, building upon our previous single-cell study (Pique-Regi, 2019), another study, and new single-cell/nuclei RNA-sequencing data, we investigated the expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 throughout pregnancy in the placenta as well as in third-trimester chorioamniotic membranes. We report that co-transcription of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 is negligible in the placenta, thus not a likely path of vertical transmission for SARS-CoV-2. By contrast, receptors for Zika virus and cytomegalovirus, which cause congenital infections, are highly expressed by placental cell types. These data show that the placenta minimally expresses the canonical cell-entry mediators for SARS-CoV-2.

Data availability

Placenta and decidua scRNA-seq data from first-trimester samples were downloaded through ArrayExpress (E-MTAB-6701). Data for third-trimester samples previously collected by our group are available through NIH dbGAP (accession number phs001886.v1.p1), and newly generated second-trimester scRNA-seq and third-trimester snRNA-seq data are being deposited in the same repository.

The following data sets were generated
The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Roger Pique-Regi

    Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    For correspondence
    rpique@wayne.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1262-2275

  2. Roberto Romero

    Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    For correspondence
    prbchiefstaff@med.wayne.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4448-5121

  3. Adi L Tarca

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1712-7588

  4. Francesca Luca

    Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8252-9052

  5. Yi Xu

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Adnan Alazizi

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Yaozhu Leng

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Chaur-Dong Hsu

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
    For correspondence
    ngomezlo@med.wayne.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3406-5262

Funding

National Institutes of Health (HHSN275201300006C)

  • Roberto Romero

Wayne State University (Perinatal Initiative)

  • Adi L Tarca
  • Nardhy Gomez-Lopez

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Stephen CJ Parker, University of Michigan, United States

Ethics

Human subjects: The collection and use of human materials for research purposes were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Wayne State University School of Medicine [IRB# 110605MP2F(RCR), IRB# 082403MP2F(5R), and IRB# 031318MP2F]. All participating women provided written informed consent prior to sample collection.

Version history

  1. Received: May 13, 2020
  2. Accepted: July 6, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: July 14, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: July 17, 2020 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record updated: July 17, 2020 (version 3)

Copyright

This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

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  1. Roger Pique-Regi
  2. Roberto Romero
  3. Adi L Tarca
  4. Francesca Luca
  5. Yi Xu
  6. Adnan Alazizi
  7. Yaozhu Leng
  8. Chaur-Dong Hsu
  9. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez
(2020)
Does the human placenta express the canonical cell entry mediators for SARS-CoV-2?
eLife 9:e58716.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58716

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58716

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Further reading

    1. Genetics and Genomics

    Single cell transcriptional signatures of the human placenta in term and preterm parturition

    Roger Pique-Regi, Roberto Romero ... Nardhy Gomez-Lopez
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