Expression of interferon-λ1 in respiratory epithelial cells of children with RSV infection and its relationship with RSV load / 中国当代儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of IFN-λ1 in respiratory epithelial cells of children with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and its relationship with RSV load.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the children who were hospitalized with respiratory tract infection from June 2015 to June 2016. A direct immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the antigens of seven common respiratory viruses (including RSV) in the nasopharyngeal swabs. A total of 120 children who were only RSV positive were selected as the RSV infection group. A total of 50 children who had negative results in the detection of all viral antigens were selected as the healthy control group. Fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR was used to determine the RSV load and the expression of IFN-λ1 mRNA in the nasopharyngeal swabs of children in the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of IFN-λ1 in the RSV infection group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group (P<0.05). The expression of IFN-λ1 was positively correlated with RSV load (r=0.56, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>RSV can induce the expression of IFN-λ1 in respiratory epithelial cells, suggesting that IFN-λ1 may play an important role in anti-RSV infection.</p>