Upregulation of <i>GLE</i>1 and <i>LCP</i>2 Genes in H5N1 Influenza Virus Infected Patients

Abstract

Previous study showed that the Gle1 RNA export mediator-like (Gle1l) gene and the lymphocyte cytosolic protein 2 (Lcp2) gene were upregulated in response to influenza virus A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1) in a mouse mode. To determine whether these two genes were upregulated in humans after influenza A virus infection, nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from eleven patients with flu-like symptoms for viral RNA extraction and PCR amplification. Sequencing analysis revealed that nucleoprotein (NP) gene fragments amplified from nasopharyngeal swabs of four patients shared the highest similarity with the NP gene from avian influenza A (H5N1) virus (A/ goose/Shantou/753/2002). Peripheral blood samples were then collected from four patients for quantitative analysis of GLE1 and LCP2 gene expression. Our results demonstrated that both GLE1 and LCP2 genes were upregulated in H5N1 influenza A virus infected patients, suggesting that upregulation of GLE1 and LCP2 genes may be important for the host defense against influenza A viruses.