• Top
• Background
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

This article is part of the supplement: Fourth Dominique International Conference. Maternal chronic viral infections transmitted to infants: from mechanisms to prevention and care

Oral presentation

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) “in vitro” infection of human placental histocultures

Mariantonietta Di Stefano¹, Maria Luisa Calabro², Iole Maria Di Gangi², Santina Cantatore³, Massimo Barbierato⁴, Luigi Chieco-Bianchi⁴, Pantaleo Greco⁵, Loreto Gesualdo¹, Elisabeth Menu⁶ and José Ramon Fiore⁷

¹Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy

²Istituto Oncologico Veneto, IRCCS, Immunology and Diagnostic Molecular Oncology, Padova,Italy

³Laboratory of Histology, School of Medicine, University of Foggia, Italy

⁴Department of Oncology and Surgical Sciences, Oncology Section, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

⁵Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy

⁶Unité de Régulation des Infections Rétrovirales, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

⁷Department of Clinical and Occupational Health, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy

corresponding author email

from Fourth Dominique Dormont International Conference. Host-Pathogen Interactions in Chronic Infections
Paris, France. 13-15 December 2007

Retrovirology 2008, 5(Suppl 1):O4doi:10.1186/1742-4690-5-S1-O4

The electronic version of this abstract is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.retrovirology.com/content/5/S1/O4

Published:

9 April 2008

© 2008 Di Stefano et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Background

Most human Herpesvirus infect placental cells and may be harmful in pregnancy, leading to obstetrical and/or neonatal complications. Although a correlation between human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection and abortion or low birth weight in children has been reported [1,2] presently no information has been published regarding HHV-8 tropism for placenta.

Materials and methods

In this study, a placenta histoculture system was used to evaluate the susceptibility of placental cells to “in vitro” HHV-8 infection. Quantitative detection of HHV-8 was performed by real-time PCR, and virus expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry for latent and lytic HHV-8 antigens.

Results

Increasing amounts of HHV-8 DNA were detected in placental tissues and culture supernatants and immunohistochemistry analyses demonstrated that both cyto- and syncitiotrophoblasts, as well as placental endothelial cells, expressed latent (see Figure 1) and lytic antigens. In addition, relevant apoptotic phenomena were observed in infected histocultures.

Conclusions

We here demonstrated for the first time that HHV-8, like other human herpesviruses, may productively infect placental cells in vitro, thus providing evidence that this phenomenon might influence vertical transmission and pregancy outcome in HHV-8-infected women.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from Istituto Superiore di Sanità (grant n. 50G.3, MLC; grant n. 50G.29, JRF) and from Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (MLC). MB was the recipient of a fellowship from Associazione Italiana per la Lotta contro le Leucemie, Linfomi e Mieloma (AIL).

References

1. Gaye-Diallo A, Toure AT, Gessain A, Gueye-Ndiaye A, Ndour AN, et al.: Preliminary study of human Herpesvirus type 8 infection in pregnant women in Dakar (Senegal).

   Bull Soc Pathol Exot 2001, 94:231-234. PubMed Abstract

2. Sarmati L, Ticconi C, Santangelo R, Montano M, Rezza G, et al.: Does the risk of abortion increases in women with high human herpesvirus-8 antibody titers?

   J Infect Dis 2003, 188:173-174. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text

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