The aim is to evaluate pregnant women infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) and provide help for clinical prevention and treatment. All five cases of pregnant women confirmed COVID‐19 were collected among patients who admitted to the Maternal and Child Hospital of Hubei Province between January 20 and February 10, 2020. All patients, aging from 25 to 31 years old, had the gestational week from 38th weeks to 41st weeks. All pregnant women did not have an antepartum fever but developed a low‐grade fever (37.5℃‐38.5℃) within 24 hours after delivery. All patients had normal liver and renal function, two patients had elevated plasma levels of the myocardial enzyme. Unusual chest imaging manifestations, featured with ground‐grass opacity, were frequently observed in bilateral (three cases) or unilateral lobe (two cases) by computed tomography (CT) scan. All labors smoothly processed, the Apgar scores were 10 points 1 and 5 minutes after delivery, no complications were observed in the newborn. Pregnancy and perinatal outcomes of patients with COVID‐19 should receive more attention. It is probable that pregnant women diagnosed with COVID‐19 have no fever before delivery. Their primary initial manifestations were merely low‐grade postpartum fever or mild respiratory symptoms. Therefore, the protective measures are necessary on admission; the instant CT scan and real‐time reverse‐transcriptase polymerase‐chain‐reaction assay should be helpful in early diagnosis and avoid cross‐infection on the occasion that patients have fever and other respiratory signs.

COVID-19 is spreading globally. This study aims to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women confirmed with COVID-19 to provide reference for clinical work. The clinical features and outcomes of 10 pregnant women confirmed with COVID-19 at Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a tertiary- care teaching hospital in Hubei province, Wuhan, China from January 23 to February 23, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. All the 10 observed pregnant women including 9 singletons and 1 twin were native people in Wuhan. All of them were diagnosed mild COVID-19, and none one of the patients developed severe COVID-19 or died. Among the 10 patients, two patients underwent vaginal delivery, two patients underwent intrapartum cesarean section, and the remaining six patients underwent elective cesarean section. All of 10 patients showed lung abnormalities by pulmonary CT images after delivery. Their eleven newborns were recorded and no neonatal asphyxia was observed. Pulmonary CT screening on admission may be necessary to reduce the risk of nosocomial transmission of COVID-19 during the outbreak period. And COVID-19 is not an indication of cesarean section.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the 3rd epidemic coronavirus after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Since December 2019, the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has aroused great attention around the world. Pregnant women and their fetuses have been concerned as a high-risk population. We explained why pregnant women are susceptible to coronavirus in terms of their adaptive changes in physiology and immune system during pregnancy, and described the associations between maternal clinical symptoms, perinatal outcomes and coronavirus infections.

Background: The ongoing epidemics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have caused serious concerns about its potential adverse effects on pregnancy. There are limited data on maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: We conducted a case-control study to compare clinical characteristics, maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with and without COVID-19 pneumonia. Results: During January 24 to February 29, 2020, there were sixteen pregnant women with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia and eighteen suspected cases who were admitted to labor in the third trimester. Two had vaginal delivery and the rest took cesarean section. Few patients presented respiratory symptoms (fever and cough) on admission, but most had typical chest CT images of COVID-19 pneumonia. Compared to the controls, COVID-19 pneumonia patients had lower counts of white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils, C-reactive protein (CRP), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) on admission. Increased levels of WBC, neutrophils, eosinophils, and CRP were found in postpartum blood tests of pneumonia patients. There were three (18.8%) and two (10.5%) of the mothers with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 pneumonia had preterm delivery due to maternal complications, which were significantly higher than the control group. None experienced respiratory failure during hospital stay. COVID-19 infection was not found in the newborns and none developed severe neonatal complications. Conclusion: Severe maternal and neonatal complications were not observed in pregnant women with COVID-19 pneumonia who had vaginal delivery or caesarean section. Mild respiratory symptoms of pregnant women with COVID-19 pneumonia highlight the need of effective screening on admission.

Impaired invasion of EVTs results in inadequate remodelling of arteries and poor placentation, leading to PE. TMBIM4 was found to promote the migration and invasion of human osteosarcoma U2-OS and breast cancer MCF7 cell lines. However, the effect of TMBIM4 on trophoblast biological behaviour and its relevance to PE pathophysiology remain unclear. In this study, we confirmed that TMBIM4 was highly expressed in cytotrophoblasts, syncytiotrophoblasts, and EVTs of the human placenta during early pregnancy. By comparing the expression levels of TMBIM4 in the placenta of women with normal-term pregnancy and PE, TMBIM4 was found to be significantly decreased in PE. Thereafter, we determined the expression of TMBIM4 in the LPS-treated first-trimester human trophoblast cell line HTR-8/SVneo (mimicking a PE-like cell model), and determined the effect of TMBIM4 on trophoblast function and its underlying mechanism. LPS treatment reduced the expression of TMBIM4 and induced NLRP3 inflammasome activity in HTR-8/SVneo cells. KO of TMBIM4 in the HTR-8/SVneo cell line impaired cell viability, migration, and invasion, which was more severe in the LPS/ATP-treated TMBIM4-KO cell line. Moreover, TMBIM4 deficiency enhanced NLRP3 inflammasome activity and promoted subsequent pyroptosis, with or without LPS/ATP treatment. The negative relationship between TMBIM4 expression and NLRP3 inflammatory activity was verified in PE placentas. Inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome with MCC950 in HTR-8/SVneo cells alleviated LPS/ATP-induced pyroptosis and damaged cell function in the TMBIM4-KO cell line. Overall, this study revealed a new PE-associated protein, TMBIM4, and its biological significance in trophoblast pyroptosis mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome. TMBIM4 may serve as a potential target for the treatment of placental inflammation-associated PE.