Host genetics of severe influenza: from mouse Mx1 to human IRF7.

ABSTRACT: Influenza viruses cause mild to moderate respiratory illness in most people, and only rarely devastating or fatal infections. The virulence factors encoded by viral genes can explain seasonal or geographic differences at the population level but are unlikely to account for inter-individual clinical variability. Inherited or acquired immunodeficiencies may thus underlie severe cases of influenza. The crucial role of host genes was first demonstrated by forward genetics in inbred mice, with the identification of interferon (IFN)-α/β-inducible Mx1 as a canonical influenza susceptibility gene. Reverse genetics has subsequently characterized the in vivo role of other mouse genes involved in IFN-α/β and -λ immunity. A series of in vitro studies with mouse and human cells have also refined the ce

SUBMITTER: Ciancanelli MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4733643 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature