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A study led by the brilliant @ShelFarFar shows that viral transmission to placenta occurred in a woman at 22 wks of pregnancy. Heroic efforts by our @YaleMSTP student Alice Lu found the major target of #SARSCoV2 to be the #syncytiotrophoblasts 👇🏽 (1/n)

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
An accompanying #ElectronMicroscopy analysis by Yuki Yasumoto & Tamas Horvath shows beautiful images of the #SARSCoV2 in the syncytiotrophoblasts. (2/n)
Shown by @VogelsChantal & @NathanGrubaugh, the mother had detectable levels of #SARSCoV2 in her saliva and urine, but not in her blood. However, the level of virus in the placenta was sky high. How did the virus get to the placenta? (3/n)
Did the mother fail to develop immune response to the virus? On the contrary, she had very high levels of both IgG and IgM against the spike protein shown by @FeimeiL & @aaronmring. (4/n)
What is the relevance of this? #SARSCoV2 can infect the placenta, particularly syncytiotrophoblast, which is the epithelial lining at the fetal-maternal interface. For more on this topic, read our review by @laura_yockey_ & @carolilucas below 👇🏽 (5/n)

science.sciencemag.org/content/368/64…
Also, check out the other amazing reviews on Early Life Immunology in this issue of @ScienceMagazine. (end)

@babiesresearch @teichlab @Muzz_Haniffa and many others! Intro by @ImmunoEditor #MaternalFetal #CongenitalDisease

science.sciencemag.org/content/368/64…
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More from @VirusesImmunity see all

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Prof. Akiko Iwasaki
@VirusesImmunity
Exciting new study by @DijkmanRonald and colleagues shows that #SARS_COV_2 replicates better at the cooler temperature of the nose (33ºC) than at the warmer temperature of the lung (37ºC) due to lower interferon response.

Keep your nose warm 😷🧣 (1/n)

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Combined with the fact that host defense against rhinovirus is also better at 37ºC for the same reasons (@EllenFoxman; pnas.org/content/112/3/…), and that host defense against influenza virus is optimal at 50% relative humidity (pnas.org/content/116/22…), (2/n)
Warm & humidified indoor environment is key to boost our immune defense against respiratory viruses. Wearing a mask or covering your nose with scarf can also help maintain moisture and warmth in your nose. For more, read 👇🏽

(end)

annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/an…
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Prof. Akiko Iwasaki
@VirusesImmunity
A lot of people are wondering why #Japan has so few cases of #COVID19. In this commentary, @NathanGrubaugh and I speculate on some possible reasons. (1/n)

embopress.org/doi/10.15252/e…
An important observation made by @NathanGrubaugh is the recent introduction of #SARSCoV2. Note the earlier infections came from China, while ones in March are predominantly from Europe (plus Egypt, USA). Japan has now tightened travel bans. (2/n)

nextstrain.org/ncov/global?f_…
An intriguing link is the correlation between the #BCG vaccination and #COVID19. In countries that mandate childhood BCG vaccines, cases of #COVID19 and deaths appear to be low. For more discussions see 👇🏽
(3/n)

jsatonotes.com/2020/03/if-i-w…
news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kimuram… (by Prof. Miyasaka)
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Prof. Akiko Iwasaki
@VirusesImmunity
Several studies are coming out saying that blood LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) levels early in #COVID19 disease correlates with severe disease progression. This is a clue that #pyroptosis may be a the core of this disease (1/n).

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
jci.org/articles/view/…
What is LDH? It is an enzyme found within the cytosol of nearly all cells. Ed Miao's group showed that LDH release is a reliable way to monitor #pyroptosis, a form of cell death that depends on inflammasomes leading to plasma membrane rupture. (2/n)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23852598
LDH is not released by apoptosis or even hyperactivation of macrophages. It requires pyroptosis and membrane rupture shown by @jkagan1 's group. (3/n)

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
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