In vitro and ex vivo experiments demonstrate signaling pathways involved in lung injury during influenza pneumonia, suggesting potential therapeutic targets.
Key Points
This research aims to explore the signaling events, specifically the unfolded protein response, that contribute to lung injury caused by influenza virus infection.
Utilized murine lung epithelial cell line MLE-12 and its IRE-1 knockout descendant generated by CRISPR-Cas9.
Isolated primary human and murine alveolar epithelial cells for experiments.
Conducted in vitro and ex vivo influenza virus experiments using precision-cut lung slices.
Processed lung cryosections and homogenates from infected mice for microscopy and FACS cell sorting.
Identified significant rates of apoptosis in alveolar epithelial cells infected with influenza virus.
Demonstrated loss of barrier integrity in lung tissue due to viral infection.
Showed that specific signaling pathways, particularly those involving the unfolded protein response, contribute to increased epithelial damage.