Identification of biological processes that distinguish lethal from non-lethal influenza infection
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Identification of biological processes that distinguish lethal from non-lethal influenza infection and further use of these signatures in a top-down systems analysis investigating the relative pathogenic contributions of direct viral damage to lung epithelium vs. dysregulated immunity to during lethal influenza infection. For acutely lethal influenza infections, the relative pathogenic contributions of direct viral damage to lung epithelium vs. dysregulated immunity remain unresolved. Here, we take a top-down systems approach to this question. Multigene transcriptional signatures from infected lungs suggested that elevated activation of inflammatory signaling networks distinguished lethal from sublethal infections. Flow cytometry and gene expression analysis involving isolated cell subpopulations from infected lungs showed that neutrophil influx largely accounted for the predictive transcriptional signature. Automated imaging analysis together with these gene expression and flow data identified a chemokine-driven feed-forward circuit involving pro-inflammatory neutrophils potently driven by poorly contained lethal viruses. Consistent with these data, attenuation but not ablation of the neutrophil-driven response increased survival without changing viral spread. These findings establish the primacy of damaging innate inflammation in at least some forms of influenza-induced lethality and provide a roadmap for the systematic dissection of infection-associated pathology.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE42638 | GEO | 2013/07/03
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA182487
REPOSITORIES: GEO
ACCESS DATA