Distinct peripheral blood mononuclear cells transcriptional modules in the response to human respiratory syncytial virus or human rhinovirus in hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the main cause of bronchiolitis during the first year of life, but other viruses such as rhinovirus also occur and are clinically indistinguishable. In hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis, the analysis of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) gene expression might be useful for identification the etiologies caused by HRSV and human rhinovirus (HRV) and to the development of future tests, as well as to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms triggered by different viral agents and new therapeutic possibilities. In this study, we conducted a comparative global gene expression analysis of infants with acute viral bronchiolitis infected by HRSV (HRSV group) or HRV (HRV group). The transcriptomic profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with HRSV or HRV were obtained. We employed a weighted gene co-expression network analysis which allows the identification of transcriptional modules and their correlations with HRSV or HRV groups.