Mechanical control of innate immune responses against viral infection revealed in a human lung alveolus chip
A new article from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University was published in "Nature Communications".
May 4th, 2022
In this report, the use of the organ-on-chip technology uncovers the importance of breathing motions on lung innate immune response, leading to repurposing of potential therapeutics for respiratory diseases. This research, published in the current issue of "Nature Communications", was led by co-first authors “Haiqing Bai” and “Longlong Si” in Prof. Ingber’s Lab. Dr. Roberto Plebani, a member of the laboratory of Molecular Medicine at the Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST) and the Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, contributed to the realization of this work and is co-author of the paper.
In this work, the effects of breathing motions on lung immune responses was studied using the lung alveolus-chip. The authors show that mechanical strain inhibits viral infection by H3N2 and H5N1 influenza viruses and OC43 coronavirus, and increases innate immunity against viral infection. RNAseq analysis led to the identification of RAGE and TRPV4 as mediators of mechanical strain-induced activation of innate immunity during viral infection, suggesting that TRPV4 and RAGE may serve as new targets for therapeutic intervention in patients infected by influenza and other potential pandemic viruses that cause life-threatening lung inflammation.
The full article is now online at the following link: