Transcriptome alterations induced by acute and persistent human bocavirus 1 infection in human airway epithelial cells

It replicates efficiently in human airway epithelial (HAE) cells and is shed into the airways for months after acute infection. It further persists in B cells of tonsillar germinal centers with unknown consequences.

Our aim was to compare how acute and persistent virus infections influence the cells. We performed total RNA sequencing to investigate the cellular transcriptomes of polarized HAE cells infected with HBoV1 at 7, 14 and 30 days post infection, and compared the biological pathways enriched across these different time points. We observed significant activation in the interferon signaling pathway and elevation of pattern recognition receptors, including toll-like receptor 2, only in the acute phase, whereas a slight elevation of the p53-signalling pathway was still observed after 30 days.