Human Placental Trophoblasts Are Resistant to Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in a 3D-Culture Model of the Maternal-Fetal Interface.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), the etiological agent of Chagas Disease (CD), is transmitted to humans by infected kissing bugs, blood transfusion, organ transplantation, and from mother-to-child. Congenital transmission is now considered an important route of CD spread in non-endemic countries where no routine testing of pregnant women for the disease is implemented. The main cellular mechanisms that lead to fetal infection by T. cruzi, despite the presence of a placental barrier, remain unclear. Mother-to-child transmission most likely occurs when bloodstream trypomastigotes reach the placental intervillous space and interact with the large cellular surface provided by the syncytioptrophoblasts. These highly specialized cells not only function as a physical obstacle be

SUBMITTER: Silberstein E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7969514 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature