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.