Seasonal H1N1 influenza A virus preferentially infects a pre-existing ciliogenesis-primed secretory cell state
- 1Universität Zürich
Abstract
Influenza A viruses (IAV) infect secretory and ciliated cells of the human airway epithelium , but whether all cells within one cell type are equally susceptible to infection remains unresolved. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of primary human bronchial epithelial cultures from three donors identified preferential infection of a transcriptionally distinct subpopulation of secretory cells by seasonal H1N1 IAV A/Hawaii/70/2019 . Genes upregulated in this subpopulation showed enrichment for cilium-related gene ontology terms. In an ex post facto approach, this enrichment persisted after excluding genes differentially expressed between infected and mock-treated samples, including those identified in secretory cell-specific comparisons. Single-cell analysis further revealed no significant increase in ciliogenesis scores in infected secretory cells compared to mock infected cells at 6 hours post-infection , arguing against infection-induced activation of the canonical ciliogenesis programme during the initial viral replication cycle . Collectively, these results support preferential infection of ciliogenesis-primed secretory cells and refine IAV tropism beyond cell type to encompass epithelial differentiation state.
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BibTeX
@misc{kempis2026seasonal,
title = {{Seasonal H1N1 influenza A virus preferentially infects a pre-existing ciliogenesis-primed secretory cell state}},
author = {J. von Kempis and P. Leary and L. Opitz and S. Stertz},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.64898/2026.11.04.764425},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.04.764425v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Seasonal H1N1 influenza A virus preferentially infects a pre-existing ciliogenesis-primed secretory cell state
AU - J. von Kempis
AU - P. Leary
AU - L. Opitz
AU - S. Stertz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.11.04.764425
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.04.764425v1
AB - Influenza A viruses (IAV) infect secretory and ciliated cells of the human airway epithelium , but whether all cells within one cell type are equally susceptible to infection remains unresolved. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of primary human bronchial epithelial cultures from three donors identified preferential infection of a transcriptionally distinct subpopulation of secretory cells by seasonal H1N1 IAV A/Hawaii/70/2019 . Genes upregulated in this subpopulation showed enrichment for cilium-related gene ontology terms. In an ex post facto approach, this enrichment persisted after excluding genes differentially expressed between infected and mock-treated samples, including those identified in secretory cell-specific comparisons. Single-cell analysis further revealed no significant increase in ciliogenesis scores in infected secretory cells compared to mock infected cells at 6 hours post-infection , arguing against infection-induced activation of the canonical ciliogenesis programme during the initial viral replication cycle . Collectively, these results support preferential infection of ciliogenesis-primed secretory cells and refine IAV tropism beyond cell type to encompass epithelial differentiation state.
ER -