Innate immune control of influenza virus interspecies adaptation.

ABSTRACT: Influenza virus pandemics are caused by viruses from animal reservoirs that adapt to efficiently infect and replicate in human hosts. Here, we investigated whether Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein 3 (IFITM3), a host antiviral factor with known human deficiencies, plays a role in interspecies virus infection and adaptation. We found that IFITM3-deficient mice and human cells could be infected with low doses of avian influenza viruses that failed to infect WT counterparts, identifying a new role for IFITM3 in controlling the minimum infectious viral dose threshold. Remarkably, influenza viruses passaged through Ifitm3^-/- mice exhibited enhanced host adaptation, a result that was distinct from passaging in mice deficient for interferon signaling, which caused virus a

SUBMITTER: Denz PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10473703 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature