Risk of COVID-19 infection highest for baby during early pregnancy, study finds
A new study from the Department of Physiology and the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute has highlighted the potential for differential risk of placental infection with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) across pregnancy. Professors Matthews and Lye (Departments of Physiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Medicine) together with their research teams and Professor Enrrico Bloise (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and visiting Professor in the Department of Physiology) have shown that placental ACE2 and TMPRSS2 (factors essential for cell entry of SARS-CoV-2) are expressed at higher levels in the first trimester than later in gestation and that levels did not change in preterm birth or pre-eclampsia.
