Alteration in gene expression of HUVECs infected by HTNV

Hantaan virus (HTNV) causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Previous studies have identified interferon stimulate genes (ISGs) play important roles in viral infection. However, the role of ISGs in HTNV infection is unclear. In this study, we observed the alteration of gene expression in HUVECs infected with HTNV compared with mock infected control and found considerable changes in mRNA and lncRNA profiles. HUVEC cells (ScienCell Research Laboratories, Carlsbad, CA, USA) were grown in ECM BulletKit (ScienCell Research Laboratories, Carlsbad, CA, USA) in a 5% CO2 incubator. Cells were used within passage 10 after primary culture. HTNV strain 76-118 was cultured in Vero E6 cells (ATCC Cat# CRL-1586) in our laboratory and titrated using an immunofluorescence staining assay for HTNV nucleocapsid protein (NP) as previously described. HUVECs were mock infected or infected by incubation with HTNV (moi=1) at 37 ℃ for 60 mins. Subsequently, the virus solution was removed and fresh medium added to the cell culture. 48 hours after infection, total RNA from cells were extracted using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and were sent for RNA microarray. Three independent experiments were conducted.