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Pollens destroy respiratory epithelial cell anchors and drive alphaherpesvirus infection.

ABSTRACT: Pollens are well-known triggers of respiratory allergies and asthma. The pollen burden in today's ambient air is constantly increasing due to rising climate change and air pollution. How pollens interact with the respiratory mucosa remains largely unknown due to a lack of representative model systems. We here demonstrate how pollen proteases of Kentucky bluegrass, white birch and hazel selectively destroy integrity and anchorage of columnar respiratory epithelial cells, but not of basal cells, in both ex vivo respiratory mucosal explants and in vitro primary equine respiratory epithelial cells (EREC). In turn, this pollen protease-induced damage to respiratory epithelial cell anchorage resulted in increased infection by the host-specific and ancestral alphaherpesvirus equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1). Pollen proteases of all three plant species were characterized by zymography and those of white birch were fully identified for the first time as serine proteases of the subtilase family and meiotic prophase aminopeptidase 1 using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Together, our findings demonstrate that pollen proteases selectively and irreversibly damage integrity and anchorage of columnar respiratory epithelial cells. In turn, alphaherpesviruses benefit from this partial loss-of-barrier function, resulting in increased infection of the respiratory epithelium.

SUBMITTER: Van Cleemput J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6423322 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pollens destroy respiratory epithelial cell anchors and drive alphaherpesvirus infection.

Van Cleemput Jolien J Poelaert Katrien C K KCK Laval Kathlyn K Impens Francis F Van den Broeck Wim W Gevaert Kris K Nauwynck Hans J HJ

Scientific reports 20190318 1

Pollens are well-known triggers of respiratory allergies and asthma. The pollen burden in today's ambient air is constantly increasing due to rising climate change and air pollution. How pollens interact with the respiratory mucosa remains largely unknown due to a lack of representative model systems. We here demonstrate how pollen proteases of Kentucky bluegrass, white birch and hazel selectively destroy integrity and anchorage of columnar respiratory epithelial cells, but not of basal cells, i ...[more]

PMID: 30886217

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Pollens destroy respiratory epithelial cell anchors and drive alphaherpesvirus infection.

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Pollens destroy respiratory epithelial cell anchors and drive alphaherpesvirus infection.

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