The response of human primary airway epithelial cells to Influenza or RSV infection [hAECs_Illumina]

To investigate how human airway epithelial cells respond to Influenza or RSV infection, we harvested airway epithelial cells from the mainstream bronchi of human donors and cultured them as previously described (Pickles et al,1998) in a polarized system that resembles the in vivo mucociliary pseudostratified epithelium. Quadruplicate hAEC cultures were infected with 2X105 PFUs Influenza A (Udorn) or with 1x106 PFUs RSV for 2h or mock inoculated and harvested 24h after Influenza infection and 48h after RSV infection. Quadruplicate polarized airway epithelial cell cultures were infected with 2x10^5 PFUs of Influenza A (Udorn) for 2h or infected with 1x10^6 PFUs RSV and harvested 24 h post infection for Influenza or 48h post infection for RSV.Duplicate cultures were used as controls for each condition (Two cultures were mock treated mor 2h and harvested after 24h for the Influenza infection and 2 cultures were mock treated for 2h and harvested after 48 hours for the RSV infection.Total RNA was harvested and gene expression was studied using Genespring GX v7.3.1.