Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Virology, CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Am J Pathol. 2010 Apr;176(4):1614-8. doi: 10.2353/ajpath.2010.090949. Epub 2010 Feb 18.
Influenza viruses vary markedly in their efficiency of human-to-human transmission. This variation has been speculated to be determined in part by the tropism of influenza virus for the human upper respiratory tract. To study this tropism, we determined the pattern of virus attachment by virus histochemistry of three human and three avian influenza viruses in human nasal septum, conchae, nasopharynx, paranasal sinuses, and larynx. We found that the human influenza viruses-two seasonal influenza viruses and pandemic H1N1 virus-attached abundantly to ciliated epithelial cells and goblet cells throughout the upper respiratory tract. In contrast, the avian influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, attached only rarely to epithelial cells or goblet cells. Both human and avian viruses attached occasionally to cells of the submucosal glands. The pattern of virus attachment was similar among the different sites of the human upper respiratory tract for each virus tested. We conclude that influenza viruses that are transmitted efficiently among humans attach abundantly to human upper respiratory tract, whereas inefficiently transmitted influenza viruses attach rarely. These results suggest that the ability of an influenza virus to attach to human upper respiratory tract is a critical factor for efficient transmission in the human population.
流感病毒在人际传播效率方面差异显著。这种差异被推测部分取决于流感病毒对人类上呼吸道的嗜性。为了研究这种嗜性，我们通过病毒组织化学方法，检测了三种人流感病毒和三种禽流感病毒在人鼻中隔、鼻甲、鼻咽部、副鼻窦和喉部的病毒附着模式。我们发现，两种季节性流感病毒和大流行 H1N1 病毒在整个上呼吸道大量附着在纤毛上皮细胞和杯状细胞上。相比之下，禽流感病毒，包括高致病性 H5N1 病毒，仅偶尔附着在上皮细胞或杯状细胞上。人和禽流感病毒偶尔也附着在粘膜下腺细胞上。在每种测试的病毒中，不同的人上呼吸道部位的病毒附着模式相似。我们得出结论，在人际间有效传播的流感病毒大量附着在上呼吸道，而传播效率较低的流感病毒则很少附着。这些结果表明，流感病毒附着在上呼吸道的能力是其在人群中有效传播的关键因素。
