HUMAN TROPHOBLAST CELLS ARE PERMISSIVE TO THE COMPLETE REPLICATIVE CYCLE OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS

Human trophoblast cells were permissively infected by human cytomegalo virus. The kinetics of viral immediate-early, early, and late gene exp ression was clearly delayed compared to that in fibroblasts, Productiv e infection was unequivocally proven by the detection of virion partic les, infectious virus in trophoblast culture supernatant, and cell-to- cell spread of cytomegalovirus from infected trophoblasts to uninfecte d fibroblasts. These observations indicate that infected trophoblasts may be involved in maternofetal transmission of human cytomegalovirus.