Abstract
The ability of several different influenza A virus strains to infect and replicate in primary, differentiated airway epithelial cell cultures from Syrian golden hamsters was investigated. All virus strains tested replicated equivalently in the cultures and displayed a preference for infecting nonciliated cells. This tropism correlated with the expression of both α2,3- and α2,6-linked sialic acid on the nonciliated cells. In contrast, the ciliated cells did not have detectable α2,6-linked sialic acid and expressed only low amounts of α2,3-linked sialic acid. In contrast to clinical isolates, laboratory strains of influenza A virus infected a limited number of ciliated cells at late times post-infection. The presence of α2,3- and α2,6-linked sialic acid residues on the same cell type suggests that Syrian golden hamsters and differentiated airway epithelial cell cultures derived from hamsters may provide a system for studying the reassortment of influenza A virus strains which utilize different forms of sialic acid as a primary virus receptor.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 80-90 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Virology |
Volume | 354 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 10 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Airway epithelium
- Ciliated cells
- Clara cells
- Goblet cell
- Influenza
- Respiratory epithelial cells
- Sialic acid
- Virus receptors
- Virus tropism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology