Cell Entry of Influenza A Viruses: Sweet Talk between HA and Ca V 1.2.

Influenza A viruses attach to sialic acids on host cells. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Fujioka et al. (2018) show that binding to a specific sialylated cellular protein facilitates infection: engagement of sialic acids linked to the Ca2+ channel CaV 1.2 induces Ca2+ oscillations, which promote infectious entry.