Dina Schneider, Jun Y Hong, Antonia P Popova, Emily R Bowman, Marisa J Linn, Alan M McLean, Ying Zhao, Joanne Sonstein, J Kelley Bentley, Jason B Weinberg, Nicholas W Lukacs, Jeffrey L Curtis, Uma S Sajjan, Marc B Hershenson
Recent studies link early rhinovirus (RV) infections to later asthma development. We hypothesized that neonatal RV infection leads to an IL-13-driven asthma-like phenotype in mice. BALB/c mice were inoculated with RV1B or sham on day 7 of life. Viral RNA persisted in the neonatal lung up to 7 d postinfection. Within this time frame, IFN-α, -β, and -γ peaked 1 d postinfection, whereas IFN-λ levels persisted. Next, we examined mice on day 35 of life, 28 d after initial infection. Compared with sham-treated controls, virus-inoculated mice demonstrated airways hyperresponsiveness...
March 15, 2012: Journal of Immunology