Respiratory Influenza Virus Infection Causes Dynamic Tuft Cell and Innate Lymphoid Cell Changes in the Small Intestine.

ABSTRACT: Influenza A viruses (IAV) can cause severe disease and death in humans. IAV infection and the accompanying immune response can result in systemic inflammation, leading to intestinal damage and disruption of the intestinal microbiome. Here, we demonstrate that a specific subset of epithelial cells, tuft cells, increase across the small intestine during active respiratory IAV infection. Upon viral clearance, tuft cell numbers return to baseline levels. Intestinal tuft cell increases were not protective against disease, as animals with either increased tuft cells or a lack of tuft cells did not have any change in disease morbidity after infection. Respiratory IAV infection also caused transient increases in type 1 and 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC1 and ILC2, respectively) in the small intestin

SUBMITTER: Roach SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9093116 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature