Study demonstrates interferon-alpha production in response to influenza A virus in alveolar macrophages, suggesting varied severity of infections based on strains.
Severe Influenza A virus (IAV) infections are accompanied by a cytokine storm with type I interferon (IFN) as the main driver. Besides epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages and infiltrating dendritic cells are target cells for IAV. IAV are classified into different strains, defined by their major surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). So far, 19 HA subtypes and 11 NA subtypes are known. However, it is not well understood, why infection with certain IAV strains results in a cytokine storm with severe outcomes, while other IAV strains only cause mild infections.
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Niles et al. (2025) studied this question.
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