Influenza H3N2 infection of the Collaborative Cross founder strains reveals highly divergent host responses and identifies a unique phenotype in CAST/EiJ mice (lung). Mus musculus

To determine if genetic background can modulate severity of an infection, we studied the host responses to influenza infections in the eight genetically highly diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) founder mice. Overall design: The CC founder (C57BL/6J, 129S1/SvlmJ, CAST/EiJ, PWK/PhJ) were intranasally infected with influenza A/HK/01/68 (H3N2) with 20μl virus solution (1x101 ffu) or mock infected (with PBS). After infection lung was collected at different time points (mock_d3), d3, d5).