Measles virus airway epithelium entry, and rapid cell-to-cell spread

麻疹病毒(MeV)是最具传染性的人类呼吸道病毒，但在自然宿主中，MeV感染主要与细胞相关。我们最近记录了病毒诱导的细胞间毛孔如何促进MeV在来自人类捐赠者的分化良好的初级呼吸道上皮细胞中的快速传播。在这里，我们试图描述促进呼吸道上皮细胞进入和快速细胞间扩散的机制。我们的中心假设是，MeV为这两个过程开发了基于细胞的策略。在目标1中，我们将确定哪些髓系细胞将感染性转移到呼吸道上皮细胞，以及如何转移。在目标2中，我们将确定MeV增选的细胞骨架结构和过程，以促进其快速的上皮扩散。我们的研究将揭示MeV如何比其他病毒在人类呼吸道上皮细胞中传播得更快，这就是为什么它具有非凡的传染效率。

Measles virus (MeV) is the most contagious human respiratory virus, but within natural hosts MeV infections are largely cell-associated. We recently documented how virus-elicited intercellular pores facilitate rapid MeV spread in well-differentiated primary airway epithelia from human donors. Here we seek to characterize the mechanisms that promote airway epithelium entry and rapid cell-to-cell spread. Our central hypothesis is that MeV developed cell-based strategies for both processes. In aim 1 we will characterize which myeloid cells transfer infectivity to airway epithelia, and how. In aim 2 we will identify the cytoskeletal structures and processes co-opted by MeV to promote its rapid epithelial spread. Our studies will reveal how MeV spreads more rapidly than other viruses in human airway epithelia, which accounts for its exceptional contagion efficiency.