Fetuses are rarely infected with COVID-19 because the placenta produces very small amounts of the receptor that the coronavirus latches on to when it invades human cells, according to a study.
The placenta plays a role in stopping harmful substances from being passed down from a mother to her unborn child — but certain pathogens like the Zika virus are known to cross this barrier frequently.
The researchers found it lacked the instructions required to manufacture a protein called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 or, ACE2, which is found throughout the body in adults. The placenta’s genetic material also lacked the instructions to make an enzyme, called TMPRSS2, that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter a cell.
To cross-check their methodology, the team then examined whether the genetic instructions used to create the cell receptors attacked by the Zika virus and cytomegalovirus were present, and found these were abundantly expressed.So-called “vertical transmission” of the coronavirus from a pregnant mother to her fetus has been the subject of intense interest since the start of the pandemic.
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