Expression profile of lungs from two fatal H5N1 influenza cases

The pathogenesis of avian influenza A H5N1 virus in human has not been clearly elucidated. There have been increasing evidence suggesting a role for virus-induced cytokine dysregulation in contributing to the pathogenesis of human H5N1 disease. However, the role of aberrant innate immune response in human lungs infected by avian influenza H5N1 virus has not been explored and direct evidence for inappropriate innate responses in lungs of avian influenza H5N1 virus infected patients is lacking. In order to obtain evidences for the proposed role of aberrant innate immune response in avian influenza H5N1 virus pathogenesis in human, we analyzed expression profile of lung tissues from two fatal cases of avian influenza H5N1 virus infected patients in comparison to normal human lung using an expression microarray.