A new longitudinal study of symptomatic, asymptomatic, and mild illnesses conducted by Columbia University researchers gives information on how our bodies respond to viral respiratory infections at the molecular level. They describe the finding of a gene expression profile that may distinguish between asymptomatic and symptomatic illnesses and positive asymptomatic persons from negative individuals.
The study presents a complex picture of how several common respiratory viruses interact with the human body and each other and with common respiratory bacteria. The results are available as an interactive web tool for scientists to generate and test new hypotheses. They are described in a new peer-reviewed article in the journal PLOS Biology.
Study co-first author Marta Galanti, PhD, an associate research scientist in environmental health sciences at Columbia University School of Public Health, “The repeated emergences of influenza and coronavirus pandemic outbreaks have emphasized the need for a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions in respiratory infections.”
Study co-senior author Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman and Interim Dean of the Columbia Climate School, said, “Identifying the main biological pathways by which viruses interact with our bodies is key for developing therapeutic tools, such as antivirals or vaccines, as well as for better identifying individuals at risk, both for seasonal respiratory viruses and emerging pandemic threats.”
Over 19 months, 214 volunteers enrolled in the Virome of Manhattan study provided nasal swab samples, which were analyzed by molecular testing (RNA-seq and qPCR) along with daily individual reports of symptoms and demographic information. Rhinoviruses and coronaviruses caused the majority of the infections. Only eight percent of positive samples contained evidence of multiple viral coinfections (one case was positive for five different viruses).
The study found that influenza leads to greater changes in gene expression than other viruses, such as coronavirus or rhinovirus. Their findings also suggest a possible link between repeat exposure to pathogens and host responses.
