Attenuation of A(H7N9) influenza virus infection in mice exposed to cigarette smoke

This study aims to determine how gene expression in the lung of mice is affected by cigarette smoking during infection with an H7N9 influenza virus. Seven-week-old female C57BL/6j mice were exposed to cigarette smoke or air for 30, 90, or 180 days. At the end of the exposure period, the animals were either infected with A/Anhui/1/2013 (H7N9) virus or mock infected with PBS. At days 2 and 5 post infection (p.i.), the animals were humanely sacrificed and their lungs harvested for microarray analysis.