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Updated: Mar 26, 2026
Ex vivo Culture of Human Placental Explants for the Study of Viral Transmission Across the Maternal-Fetal Interface
Published on: December 30, 2025
Evidence for Placental HPV Infection in Both HIV Positive and Negative Women
Chrispin Chisanga1, Dawn Eggert1, Charles D Mitchell2
1Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have previously been reported to infect epithelial trophoblast cells of the placenta. To investigate this possibility, 200 placental samples from Zambian women were separated into HIV+ and HIV- groups and tested for HPV by redundant primer PCR, using GP5+/GP6+ and CPI/CPII primer sets. Three HPV genotypes (HPV6, 16 and 90) were detected in placental samples. Whereas, 20 different HPV genotypes were detected in vaginal sampling of the same patients, suggesting that compartment specific sub-populations of HPV may exist. The incidence of HPV16 in placental samples was almost 2-fold greater in HIV+ women compared to HIV- (p = 0.0241). HPV16 L1 expression, detected by immunochemistry, was significantly higher in HIV+ than HIV- samples (p = 0.0231). HPV16 DNA was detected in the nuclei of trophoblast cells by in situ hybridization. Overall, these results suggest that HPVs infect the placenta and that HIV significantly influences these infections.
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have previously been reported to infect epithelial trophoblast cells of the placenta. To investigate this possibility, 200 placental samples from Zambian women were separated into HIV+ and HIV- groups and tested for HPV by redundant primer PCR, using GP5+/GP6+ and CPI/CPII primer sets. Three HPV genotypes (HPV6, 16 and 90) were detected in placental samples. Whereas, 20 different HPV genotypes were detected in vaginal sampling of the same patients, suggesting that compartment specific sub-populations of HPV may exist. The incidence of HPV16 in placental samples was almost 2-fold greater in HIV+ women compared to HIV- (p = 0.0241). HPV16 L1 expression, detected by immunochemistry, was significantly higher in HIV+ than HIV- samples (p = 0.0231). HPV16 DNA was detected in the nuclei of trophoblast cells by in situ hybridization. Overall, these results suggest that HPVs infect the placenta and that HIV significantly influences these infections.
