Influenza Pathogenesis: The Effect of Host Factors on Severity of Disease

Abstract

Influenza viruses continue to be a major global health threat. Severity and clinical outcome of influenza disease is determined by both viral and host factors. Viral factors have long been the subject of intense research and many molecular determinants have been identified. However, research into the host factors that protect or predispose to severe and fatal influenza A virus infections is lagging. The goal of this review is to highlight the recent insights into host determinants of influenza pathogenesis.

Figure 1:. The different host genes that have been tested in gene-knockout mice in IAV pathogenesis models:

²⁻⁶ Number of publications reporting on the role of the host gene on survival after intranasal IAV challenge. * The significance of Ipo7 depends on the strain of IAV used. A table containing the names of the host genes, the associated IAV phenotypes and a web-link to the paper in NCBI is available upon request.

Figure 2:

Host factors that modulate influenza virus pathogenesis.