Saturday, May 13, 2023     1:45 PM – 2:30 PM ET     Exhibit Hall D, Room 1

Exhibitor Workshop: Lunaphore Technologies

The Immunopathology of COVID-19 Placentitis: A Spatial Multi-omic Approach

Presenters

• Matthew Pugh, Dr., M.Sc. And B.Sc. FRCPath, MSc BSc (Hons) MBBCh (Hons)
• Jean Shanks, Pathsoc Intermediate Fellow, Associate Clinical Professor/ Honorary Consultant Histopathologist, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham

COVID-19 placentitis is a rare complication of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection. We use multi-omic spatial profiling to characterise placentitis from obstetrically-complicated maternal COVID-19 infection. We found that SARS-CoV-2- infected placentas have a distinct transcriptional and immunopathological signature. Furthermore, quantitative spatial analyses revealed a unique microenvironment surrounding virus-infected trophoblasts characterised by PD-L1- expressing macrophages, T cell exclusion, and interferon blunting. I n contrast to uninfected mothers, ACE2 was localised to the maternal side of the placental trophoblast layer of almost all mothers with COVID-19, which may explain variable susceptibility to placental infection. Our results demonstrate a pivotal role for d irect-placental SARS-CoV-2 infection in driving the unique immunopathology of COVID-19 placentitis.