Early transcriptional responses of human nasal epithelial cells to infection with Influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 virus differ and are influenced by physiological temperature

In this study, we investigated the effect of temperature on host responses in human nasal epithelial cells (hNECs) utilizing in vitro infection models for Influenza A (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 (SCV2) viruses . We demonstrate that temperature affects SCV2, but not IAV, viral replicative fitness and that SCV2 infected cultures are slower to mount an infection-induced response, likely due to suppression by the virus. Additionally, we show that that temperature not only changes the basal transcriptomic landscape of epithelial cells, but that it also impacts the response to infection.

本研究借助甲型流感病毒（Influenza A，IAV）与新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2，SCV2）的体外（in vitro）感染模型，探究了温度对人类鼻上皮细胞（human nasal epithelial cells，hNECs）宿主应答的影响。结果表明，温度可影响新型冠状病毒的复制适配能力，但对甲型流感病毒无此效应；感染新型冠状病毒的细胞培养物启动感染诱导应答的速度更为缓慢，该现象大概率由病毒对宿主应答的抑制作用所致。此外，本研究还证实，温度不仅会改变上皮细胞的基础转录组图谱，还会对其感染应答过程产生显著影响。