Roles of TGF-β1 in Viral Infection during Pregnancy: Research Update and Perspectives

Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 30;24(7):6489. doi: 10.3390/ijms24076489.

Abstract

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is a pleiotropic growth factor playing various roles in the human body including cell growth and development. More functions of TGF-β1 have been discovered, especially its roles in viral infection. TGF-β1 is abundant at the maternal-fetal interface during pregnancy and plays an important function in immune tolerance, an essential key factor for pregnancy success. It plays some critical roles in viral infection in pregnancy, such as its effects on the infection and replication of human cytomegalovirus in syncytiotrophoblasts. Interestingly, its role in the enhancement of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection and replication in first-trimester trophoblasts has recently been reported. The above up-to-date findings have opened one of the promising approaches to studying the mechanisms of viral infection during pregnancy with links to corresponding congenital syndromes. In this article, we review our current and recent advances in understanding the roles of TGF-β1 in viral infection. Our discussion focuses on viral infection during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester. We highlight the mutual roles of viral infection and TGF-β1 in specific contexts and possible functions of the Smad pathway in viral infection, with a special note on ZIKV infection. In addition, we discuss promising approaches to performing further studies on this topic.

Keywords: HIV; SARS-CoV-2; TGF-β1; ToRCH; Zika; influenza; pregnancy; rubella; transforming growth factor; virus.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Trimester, First
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / metabolism
  • Trophoblasts / metabolism
  • Zika Virus Infection*
  • Zika Virus* / metabolism

Substances

  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research under the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI), grant numbers 17H04341 (to S.H.), 20K08829 (to Q.D.T.), and is partially supported by the Nihon University Research Grant for 2022 (to S.H.).