Tsutsumi Hiroyuki, Kojima Takashi, Hirakawa Satoshi, Masaki Tomoyuki, Okabayashi Tamaki, Yokota Shinichi, Fujii Nobuhiro, Himi Tetsuo, Sawada Norimasa
Department of Pediatrics, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
Adv Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;72:153-6. doi: 10.1159/000324777. Epub 2011 Aug 18.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) primarily infects upper respiratory tract cells, mainly nasal epithelial cells. The tight junctions of nasal epithelial cells are thought to perform important innate immune function against foreign materials including respiratory viruses. We investigated in vitro the relationship of RSV infection and the tight junctions of primary nasal epithelial cells which had been transfected with human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) to prolong cell life. Nasal epithelial cells developed tight junctions when cultured in medium containing fetal bovine serum, and these cells showed apparent resistance to RSV infection compared to control cells. RSV could infect these cells from apical but not basolateral side, suggesting that only apical side possess RSV receptor or a mechanism for absorbing RSV particles. Importantly, RSV infection of the cells enhanced the expression of tight junction proteins occludin, claudin-4 and ZO-1. These findings suggest that RSV infection induces polarity in the infected cells. This polarity could facilitate cellular secretion of propagated RSV, thereby spreading the infection.
呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）主要感染上呼吸道细胞，主要是鼻上皮细胞。鼻上皮细胞的紧密连接被认为对包括呼吸道病毒在内的外来物质发挥重要的固有免疫功能。我们在体外研究了RSV感染与转染了人端粒酶逆转录酶（hTERT）以延长细胞寿命的原代鼻上皮细胞紧密连接之间的关系。鼻上皮细胞在含有胎牛血清的培养基中培养时会形成紧密连接，与对照细胞相比，这些细胞对RSV感染表现出明显的抗性。RSV可以从顶端而非基底外侧感染这些细胞，这表明只有顶端具有RSV受体或吸收RSV颗粒的机制。重要的是，细胞的RSV感染增强了紧密连接蛋白occludin、claudin-4和ZO-1的表达。这些发现表明RSV感染在被感染细胞中诱导极性。这种极性可以促进增殖的RSV的细胞分泌，从而传播感染。
