Project description:Primary human bronchial epithelial cells were transfected with siRNA to knockdown IRF7 gene expression, allowed to recover, and then infected with human rhinovirus. At 24 hrs post rhinovirus infection, gene expression patterns were profiled on microarrays. The study design consisted of five donors, two transfection conditions (all-star negtaive control siRNA; IRF7-specific siRNA), and two culture conditions (medium control, rhinovirus-16).
Project description:Human rhinovirus and influenza virus infections of the upper airway lead to colds and the flu and can trigger exacerbations of lower airway diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Despite modest advances in the diagnosis and treatment of infections by these viruses, novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets are still needed to differentiate between the cold and the flu, since the clinical course of influenza can be severe while that of rhinovirus is usually more mild. In our investigation of influenza and rhinovirus infection of human respiratory epithelial cells, we used a systems approach to identify the temporally changing patterns of host gene expression from these viruses. After infection of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) with rhinovirus, influenza virus or co-infection with both viruses, we studied the time-course of host gene expression changes over three days. From these data, we constructed a transcriptional regulatory network model that revealed shared and unique host responses to these viral infections such that after a lag of 4-8 hours, most cell host responses were similar for both viruses, while divergent host cell responses appeared after 24-48 hours. The similarities and differences in gene expression after epithelial infection of rhinovirus, influenza virus, or both viruses together revealed qualitative and quantitative differences in innate immune activation and regulation. These differences help explain the generally mild outcome of rhinovirus infections compared to influenza infections which can be much more severe. Human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) were infected with rhinovirus, influenza virus or both viruses and RNAs were then profiled at 10 time points (2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 26, 48, 60 and 72hrs)
Project description:Background: Respiratory viruses including rhinovirus can cause pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis (CF). Aberrant responses by the CF airway epithelium during rhinovirus infection, particularly interferon production, may underly the clinical observations. Whether CFTR modulators affect antiviral responses by CF epithelia is presently unknown. We tested the hypothesis that treatment of CF epithelial cells with Ivacaftor or ivacaftor/lumacaftor (Orkambi) would improve control of rhinovirus infection. Methods: Nineteen CF epithelial cultures (CFTR Class 2: 10 homozygous for p.Phe508del, CFTR Class 3: 9 p.Phe508del/p.Gly551Asp) were infected with rhinovirus 1B at multiplicity of infection 12 for 24 hours. Culture RNA and supernatants were harvested to assess gene and protein expression respectively. Results: RNA-seq analysis comparing rhinovirus infected cultures to control identified 796 and 629 differentially expressed genes for Class 2 and Class 3, respectively. This gene response was highly conserved when cells were treated; all infected cultures (+/- treatment) were associated with the same top three over-represented biological pathways associated with interferon signalling, and were predicted to be driven by the same interferon-pathway transcriptional regulators (IFNA, IFNL1, IFNG, IRF7, STAT1). Direct comparisons between treated and untreated infected cultures did not yield any differentially expressed genes for Class 3, and only 68 genes for Class 2, related to cell metabolic pathways. In addition, CFTR modulators did not affect viral copy number, or levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines produced post-infection. Conclusions: Though long term clinical data is not yet available, results presented here suggest CFTR modulators do not interfere with core airway epithelial responses to rhinovirus infection.
Project description:Rhinovirus infections exacerbate chronic respiratory inflammatory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Airway epithelial cells are the primary site of rhinovirus replication and responsible for initiating the host immune response to infection. Numerous studies have reported that the anti-viral innate immune response in asthma is deficient leading to the conclusion that epithelial innate immunity is a key determinant of disease severity during a rhinovirus induced exacerbation. However, deficient rhinovirus-induced epithelial interferon production in asthma has not always been observed. We hypothesised that disparate in vitro airway epithelial infection models lacking genome-wide, time-course analyses have obscured the role of epithelial innate anti-viral immunity in asthma and COPD. To address this, we developed a low multiplicity of infection (MOI) rhinovirus model of differentiated primary epithelial cells obtained from healthy, asthma and COPD donors. Using genome-wide gene expression following infection, we demonstrated that gene expression patterns are similar across patient groups, but that the kinetics of induction are delayed in cells obtained from asthma and COPD donors. Rhinovirus-induced innate immune responses were defined by interferons (type-I, II and III), interferon response factors (IRF1, IRF3 and IRF7), TLR signalling and NF‐kB and STAT1 activation. Induced gene expression was evident at 24 hours and peaked at 48 hours post‐infection in cells from healthy subjects. In contrast, in cells from donors with asthma or COPD induction was maximal at or beyond 72-96 hours post infection. Thus, we propose that propensity for viral exacerbations of asthma and COPD relate to delayed (rather than deficient) expression of epithelial cell innate anti-viral immune genes which in turns leads to a delayed and ultimately more inflammatory host immune response.
Project description:Primary human bronchial epithelial cells were transfected with siRNA to knockdown IRF7 gene expression, allowed to recover, and then infected with human rhinovirus. At 24 hrs post rhinovirus infection, gene expression patterns were profiled on microarrays.
Project description:We report the application of RNA sequencing technology for high-throughput profiling of gene expression responses to human rhinovirus infection at 24 hours in air-liquid interface human airway epithelial cell cultures derived from 6 asthmatic and 6 non-asthmatic donors. RNA-seq analysis identified sets of genes associated with asthma specific viral responses. These genes are related to inflammatory pathways, epithelial remodeling and cilium assembly and function, including those described previously (e.g. CCL5, CXCL10 and CX3CL1), and novel ones that were identified for the first time in this study (e.g. CCRL1, CDHR3). We concluded that air liquid interface cultured human airway epithelial cells challenged with live HRV are a useful in vitro model for the study of rhinovirus induced asthma exacerbation, given that our findings are consistent with clinical data sets. Furthermore, our data suggest that abnormal airway epithelial structure and inflammatory signaling are important contributors to viral induced asthma exacerbation. Differentiated air-liquid interface cultured human airway epithelial cell mRNA profiles from 6 asthmatic and 6 non-asthmatic donors after 24 hour treatment with either HRV or vehicle control were generated by deep sequencing, using Illumina HiSeq 2000.
Project description:Human rhinovirus and influenza virus infections of the upper airway lead to colds and the flu and can trigger exacerbations of lower airway diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Despite modest advances in the diagnosis and treatment of infections by these viruses, novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets are still needed to differentiate between the cold and the flu, since the clinical course of influenza can be severe while that of rhinovirus is usually more mild. In our investigation of influenza and rhinovirus infection of human respiratory epithelial cells, we used a systems approach to identify the temporally changing patterns of host gene expression from these viruses. After infection of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) with rhinovirus, influenza virus or co-infection with both viruses, we studied the time-course of host gene expression changes over three days. From these data, we constructed a transcriptional regulatory network model that revealed shared and unique host responses to these viral infections such that after a lag of 4-8 hours, most cell host responses were similar for both viruses, while divergent host cell responses appeared after 24-48 hours. The similarities and differences in gene expression after epithelial infection of rhinovirus, influenza virus, or both viruses together revealed qualitative and quantitative differences in innate immune activation and regulation. These differences help explain the generally mild outcome of rhinovirus infections compared to influenza infections which can be much more severe.
Project description:We report the application of RNA sequencing technology for high-throughput profiling of gene expression responses to human rhinovirus infection at 24 hours in air-liquid interface human airway epithelial cell cultures derived from 6 asthmatic and 6 non-asthmatic donors. RNA-seq analysis identified sets of genes associated with asthma specific viral responses. These genes are related to inflammatory pathways, epithelial remodeling and cilium assembly and function, including those described previously (e.g. CCL5, CXCL10 and CX3CL1), and novel ones that were identified for the first time in this study (e.g. CCRL1, CDHR3). We concluded that air liquid interface cultured human airway epithelial cells challenged with live HRV are a useful in vitro model for the study of rhinovirus induced asthma exacerbation, given that our findings are consistent with clinical data sets. Furthermore, our data suggest that abnormal airway epithelial structure and inflammatory signaling are important contributors to viral induced asthma exacerbation.