Maternal Protection

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections don’t usually cause trouble in healthy adults. But in pregnant women, they can prove fatal for the foetus. The physical interface between mother and foetus, the placenta, can help defend against infection. Researchers investigate how using organoids, lab-grown tissues developed from human placenta, which mimic the trophoblast, which originates from the embryo and the decidua, which originates from the mother – both structures implicated in immunity. Trophoblast organoids (TOs) and decidua organoids (DOs, pictured, using fluorescence microscopy) both release immune factors even in the absence of infection, with TOs releasing an antiviral chemical. Infecting both types of organoid with fluorescently-tagged HCMV, revealed DOs had high levels of infection while TOs didn't. Infecting the organoids grown together showed that chemicals from TOs reduced HCMV levels in the DOs. These organoids can help future studies into maternal-foetal infections.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Liheng Yang and colleagues
• Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, August 2022