| 1. |
- de Goffau, Marcus C., et al.
(författare)
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Human placenta has no microbiome but can contain potential pathogens
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 572:7769, s. 329-334
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We sought to determine whether pre-eclampsia, spontaneous preterm birth or the delivery of infants who are small for gestational age were associated with the presence of bacterial DNA in the human placenta. Here we show that there was no evidence for the presence of bacteria in the large majority of placental samples, from both complicated and uncomplicated pregnancies. Almost all signals were related either to the acquisition of bacteria during labour and delivery, or to contamination of laboratory reagents with bacterial DNA. The exception was Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus), for which non-contaminant signals were detected in approximately 5% of samples collected before the onset of labour. We conclude that bacterial infection of the placenta is not a common cause of adverse pregnancy outcome and that the human placenta does not have a microbiome, but it does represent a potential site of perinatal acquisition of S. agalactiae, a major cause of neonatal sepsis.
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| 2. |
- Gaccioli, Francesca, et al.
(författare)
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Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Microbiology. - : Springer Nature. - 2058-5276. ; 5:7, s. 901-908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pre-eclampsia (typically characterized by new-onset hypertension and proteinuria in the second half of pregnancy) represents a major determinant of the global burden of disease1,2. Its pathophysiology involves placental dysfunction, but the mechanism is unclear. Viral infection can cause organ dysfunction, but its role in placentally related disorders of human pregnancy is unknown3. We addressed this using RNA sequencing metagenomics4-6 of placental samples from normal and complicated pregnancies. Here, we show that human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6, A or B) RNA was detected in 6.1% of cases of pre-eclampsia and 2.2% of other pregnancies. Fetal genotyping demonstrated that 70% of samples with HHV-6 RNA in the placenta exhibited inherited, chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (iciHHV-6). We genotyped 467 pre-eclampsia cases and 3,854 controls and found an excess of iciHHV-6 in the cases (odds ratio of 2.8, 95% confidence intervals of 1.4-5.6, P = 0.008). We validated this finding by comparing iciHHV-6 in a further 740 cases with controls from large-scale population studies (odds ratio of 2.5, 95% confidence intervals of 1.4-4.4, P = 0.0013). We conclude that iciHHV-6 results in the transcription of viral RNA in the human placenta and predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia.
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| 3. |
- Gaccioli, Francesca, et al.
(författare)
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Placental Streptococcus agalactiae DNA is associated with neonatal unit admission and foetal pro-inflammatory cytokines in term infants
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Microbiology. - : Springer Nature. - 2058-5276. ; 8:12, s. 2338-2348
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus; GBS) is a common cause of sepsis in neonates. Previous work detected GBS DNA in the placenta in ~5% of women before the onset of labour, but the clinical significance of this finding is unknown. Here we re-analysed this dataset as a case control study of neonatal unit (NNU) admission. Of 436 infants born at term (≥37 weeks of gestation), 7/30 with placental GBS and 34/406 without placental GBS were admitted to the NNU (odds ratio (OR) 3.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-7.8). We then performed a validation study using non-overlapping subjects from the same cohort. This included a further 239 cases of term NNU admission and 686 term controls: 16/36 with placental GBS and 223/889 without GBS were admitted to the NNU (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.2-4.6). Of the 36 infants with placental GBS, 10 were admitted to the NNU with evidence of probable but culture-negative sepsis (OR 4.8, 95% CI 2.2-10.3), 2 were admitted with proven GBS sepsis (OR 66.6, 95% CI 7.3-963.7), 6 were admitted and had chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the foetal membranes) (OR 5.3, 95% CI 2.0-13.4), and 5 were admitted and had funisitis (inflammation of the umbilical cord) (OR 6.7, 95% CI 12.5-17.7). Foetal cytokine storm (two or more pro-inflammatory cytokines >10 times median control levels in umbilical cord blood) was present in 36% of infants with placental GBS DNA and 4% of cases where the placenta was negative (OR 14.2, 95% CI 3.6-60.8). Overall, ~1 in 200 term births had GBS detected in the placenta, which was associated with infant NNU admission and morbidity.
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