Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc - UCLouvain - FRIA - FNRS
FD and CH are members of the cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc (CUSL). CD is a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain. AC is a PhD Fellow of the Belgian Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA). PS is a Senior Research Associate of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S-FNRS). - FNRS

" The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is a global public health emergency. In several months, the infection has spread dramatically to the entire world and resulted in a major epidemic. In this context, pregnant women require particular attention in term of emerging infections because of the physiological changes in their immune and cardiopulmonary systems. The first analysis of 38 pregnant women with COVID-19 is quite reassuring since it did not report any maternal deaths, increased complications or vertical transmission. However, specific prospective studies about transplacental transmission from infected pregnant women to their fetuses are still missing. This project combines fundamental experiments to clinical sample collection in order to assess SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission risk during pregnancy as well as its consequences on maternal and fetal health. "
Funding: This work received financial support from Charities Fetus for Life and the Louvain Foundation.
Publication References: Qiao J. What are the risks of COVID-19 infection in pregnant women? Lancet 2020; 395(10226): 760-2. Pringle KG, Tadros MA, Callister RJ, Lumbers ER. The expression and localization of the human placental prorenin/renin-angiotensin system throughout pregnancy: roles in trophoblast invasion and angiogenesis? Placenta 2011; 32(12): 956-62. Li M, Chen L, Zhang J, Xiong C, Li X. The SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 expression of maternal-fetal interface and fetal organs by single-cell transcriptome study. PLoS One 2020; 15(4): e0230295. Schwartz DA. 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. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2020-0901-SA. Dong L, Tian J, He S, et al. Possible Vertical Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 From an Infected Mother to Her Newborn. JAMA 2020. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4621. Muldoon KM, Fowler KB, Pesch MH, Schleiss MR. SARS-CoV-2: Is it the newest spark in the TORCH? J Clin Virol 2020; 127: 104372.
Contact: Research Unit in Obstetrics (OBST) Prof. Frédéric Debiève - MD, PhD Avenue Hippocrate, 54 - 4th floor +32 2 764 12 07 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. http://www.fetusforlife.org https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/irec