Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024;31(26):4199-4212.
doi: 10.2174/0929867330666230619114508.

Severity of COVID-19 in Pregnant Women: A Review on the Potential Role of Regulatory T Cells

Nafiseh Saghafi  1 , Mahmoud Mahmoudi  2 , Amir Abbas Momtazi-Borojeni  3   4 , Sara Mirzaeian  1 , Fataneh Tavasolian  5 , Thozhukat Sathyapalan  6 , Elham Abdollahi  1   2 , Amirhossein Sahebkar  7   8
Affiliations
Review

Severity of COVID-19 in Pregnant Women: A Review on the Potential Role of Regulatory T Cells

Nafiseh Saghafi et al. Curr Med Chem. 2024.

Abstract

As a physiological condition, pregnancy may cause temporary alterations in the hematological, cardiopulmonary, and immune responses, affecting the maternal susceptibility to viral infections. Pregnant women are vulnerable to infection with the influenza A virus, hepatitis E virus, MERS CoV, and SARS CoV. The agent of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the SARS coronavirus (SARS CoV-2), which affects the cells upon binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2). However, ACE2 expression is elevated in the placental tissue. However, surprisingly, COVID-19 infection in pregnant women tends to have a lower severity and mortality. Therefore, it is interesting to find the immunological mechanisms related to the severity of COVID-19 in pregnancy. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of CD4+T cells that may play a central role in maintaining maternal tolerance by regulating immune responses. Pregnancy-induced Tregs are developed to control immune responses against paternal antigens expressed by the semi-allograft fetus. The role of uncontrolled immune responses in COVID-19 pathogenesis has already been identified. This review provides insight into whether pregnancy- induced regulatory T-cell functions could influence the severity of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy.

Keywords: COVID-19; Regulatory T cells; SARS CoV.; Tregs; infection; pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Yang H.; Wang C.; Poon L.C.; Novel coronavirus infection and pregnancy. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2020,55(4),435-437 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rasmussen S.A.; Smulian J.C.; Lednicky J.A.; Wen T.S.; Jamieson D.J.; Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pregnancy: what obstetricians need to know. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2020,222(5),415-426 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schwartz D.A.; An analysis of 38 pregnant women with COVID-19, their newborn infants, and maternal-fetal transmission of SARS-CoV-2: maternal coronavirus infections and pregnancy outcomes. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2020,144(7),799-805 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Robinson D.P.; Klein S.L.; Pregnancy and pregnancy-associated hormones alter immune responses and disease pathogenesis. Horm Behav 2012,62(3),263-271 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fried J.A.; Ramasubbu K.; Bhatt R.; Topkara V.K.; Clerkin K.J.; Horn E.; Rabbani L.; Brodie D.; Jain S.S.; Kirtane A.J.; Masoumi A.; Takeda K.; Kumaraiah D.; Burkhoff D.; Leon M.; Schwartz A.; Uriel N.; Sayer G.; The variety of cardiovascular presentations of COVID-19. Circulation 2020,141(23),1930-1936 - DOI - PubMed