FLUNEXT transcriptome analysis

Influenza virus infections remain a major public health burden. The intrinsic ever-evolving nature of this virus, the suboptimal efficacy of recent influenza inactivated vaccines, as well as the emergence of resistance against a limited antiviral arsenal, highlight the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches to treat influenza infections. Here, we exploited in vivo transcriptomic signatures of infection, directly obtained from a patient’s cohort to identify in silico a list of marketed drugs with signatures that counteracted that of the infection state. Nasal swabs were collected from patients infected with influenza H1N1 virus, either at inclusion (before any antiviral treatment, Infected status), or 3 month after recovery (Cured status). Total RNA was extracted from nasal swabs collected into RNAlater buffer, and subsequently analyzed by microarray.

流感病毒感染仍是公共卫生领域的重大负担。该病毒固有的持续演化特性、当前流感灭活疫苗的保护效力欠佳，以及有限抗病毒药物库出现耐药性，均凸显出开发新型流感感染治疗策略的迫切需求。本研究利用直接从患者队列获取的体内感染转录组特征，通过计算机模拟（in silico）筛选出一批可抵消感染状态转录特征的上市药物。研究人员从感染甲型H1N1流感病毒的患者处采集鼻拭子，采样时机分为两类：入组时（未接受任何抗病毒治疗，记为感染状态组），以及康复后3个月（记为康复状态组）。采集的鼻拭子置于RNAlater保存液中，随后从中提取总RNA，并通过基因芯片进行转录组分析。