Nasal cavity epithelial cells exhibit antiviral transcriptional signatures upon activation of IFN-gamma producing antigen-specific T cells

To evaluate the differential impact of IFN-gamma secretion on nasal cavity epithelial cells, we compared the transcriptional profiles of nasal cavity epithelial cells (CD45-, CD3- CD11b-, CD31-, CD326+) from wildtype and IFN-gamma knockout mice at 30 days (d30) post intranasal infection with a live attenuated influenza virus expressing the immunodominant H-2Kd CD8 T cell epitope from Sendai virus nucleoprotein (LAIV-SenNP). Nasal cavity epithelial cells were also analyzed from LAIV-SenNP immunized wildtype and IFN-gamma knockout mice 3 days after intranasal administration of Sendai virus nucleoprotein peptide (d30+3). The results indicate that nasal cavity epithelial cells express genes associated with antigen presentation and antiviral function following antigen-specific T cell activation, and these alterations in transcriptional programming depend on IFN-gamma secretion. Overall design: Transcriptional profiling of 4 experimental groups (n=10 WT mice at d30, n=9 Ifng-/- mice at d30, n=10 WT mice at d30+3, and n=8 Ifng-/- mice at d30+3) collected over 2 independent replicates.