Highly differentiated cultures of ferret airway epithelium for the study of respiratory viruses, including influenza.

雪貂气道上皮的高度分化培养物，用于研究呼吸道病毒（包括流感）。

• 批准号: G1000033/1
• 负责人: Wendy Barclay
• 金额: $ 15.97万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G1000033%2F1
• 关键词: Highly; differentiated; cultures; ferret; airway

To study the transmission of a virus from one host to another, the use of whole animals is ultimately unavoidable. However we can strive to make sure that the numbers of animals that are used are minimized and that the whole animal studies are complemented by the very best research in vitro. In that way, the answers gained from the whole animal studies tell a complete story and move the field on. We aim to understand why some influenza viruses transmit between people whilst others do not. This allows us to predict how and when influenza pandemics will arise. We use ferrets to achieve this. One ferret is infected with a known dose of virus and another animal is exposed to see if they catch the virus. This can tell us which viruses transmit but not why. Moreover many different strains of virus might be tested at many different doses before the right conditions for the experiment are found. Here we propose to develop a sophisticated cell culture model using the very same target cells as become infected in the animal, the cells of the nose and throat. In this way we can recapitulate in a test tube the environment the virus has to cope with in real life. What is more, from a single animal we can reproduce more than 50 equivalent test tube cultures to test different viruses side by side and look at the effects of drugs and other interventions on the virus.Because the ferret and human respiratory system are similar, we predict that these ferret airway cultures will be useful for studying other human respiratory diseases.

要研究病毒从一个宿主传播到另一个宿主的过程，使用整个动物最终是不可避免的。然而，我们可以努力确保所使用的动物数量最小化，并确保整个动物研究得到最好的体外研究的补充。这样，从整个动物研究中获得的答案就讲述了一个完整的故事，并推动了这个领域的发展。我们的目标是了解为什么一些流感病毒会在人与人之间传播，而另一些则不会。这使我们能够预测流感大流行将如何以及何时出现。我们使用雪貂来实现这一点。一只雪貂感染了已知剂量的病毒，另一只动物暴露在病毒中，看看它们是否感染了病毒。这可以告诉我们哪些病毒传播，但不能告诉我们为什么。此外，在找到合适的实验条件之前，许多不同的病毒株可能会在许多不同的剂量下进行测试。在这里，我们建议开发一种复杂的细胞培养模型，使用与动物感染时完全相同的靶细胞，即鼻子和喉咙的细胞。通过这种方式，我们可以在试管中重述病毒在现实生活中必须应对的环境。更重要的是，从一只动物身上，我们可以复制50多种等效的试管培养物来并排测试不同的病毒，并观察药物和其他干预措施对病毒的影响。由于雪貂和人类呼吸系统相似，我们预测这些雪貂呼吸道培养物将有助于研究其他人类呼吸道疾病。