Respiratory syncytial virus receptor expression in the mouse and viral tropism
Aria Shakeri1, Peter Mastrangelo1, Jennifer K. Griffin2, Theo J. Moraes1,3 and Richard G. Hegele1,4
1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3Department of Paediatrics and 4Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Offprint requests to: Richard G. Hegele, MD, PhD, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, 6231-1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A8. e-mail: richard.hegele@utoronto.ca
Summary. Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects airway epithelium and can cause serious illnesses such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia. With the discovery of cell-surface nucleolin as a fusion receptor for RSV, the question arose as to whether nucleolin could explain RSV tropism in vivo. Here, we report the distribution of cell-surface nucleolin expression in tissues of normal mice and how this distribution of expression relates to what is known about RSV tropism and its clinical manifestations. Our results show evidence of cell-surface nucleolin expression in the respiratory tract. In addition, cell-surface nucleolin is expressed in tissues outside of the respiratory tract, many of which correspond to previous reports of tissue-specific RSV infection, and others that may allude to additional potential sites for RSV infection in vivo. Furthermore, our work provides a foundation for the investigation of nucleolin’s physiological function in various healthy mammalian tissues. Histol Histopathol 30, 401-411 (2015)
Key words: Respiratory syncytial virus, Receptor, Histological mapping, Nucleolin, Mouse
DOI: 10.14670/HH-30.401