Study of the functional interplay between respiratory viruses and cellular pathways and immune response during infection


 

We extend our work dedicated to the study of respiratory virus/host functional interactions, with a focus on mixed viral/bacterial infections and the respiratory epithelial innate immune response. A combination of global transcriptome-based (Novaseq, nanostring), immunomonitoring and cellular biology/virology approaches (including reverse-genetics) are set up in synergy with relevant biological materials (patient clinical samples) and in vitro (A549 cells)/ex vivo (HAE)/in vivo (mice, ferrets, PNH) models. Notably, in our projects, we advantageously use human reconstituted airway epithelial models (HAE), composed of human primary ciliated columnar cells, mucus-secreting goblet and basal cells cultivated at the air-liquid interface, which have been successfully used and characterized to study viral infections and evaluate new antivirals. Three complementary topics are explored: (i) Study of the functional interplay between respiratory viruses and p53/immune axis; (ii) The Role of the interferon type III pathway in human airway epithelia in the context of Respiratory viral infections; (iii) Study of influenza/bacteria mixed infections in different physiological/pathological contexts.