title: Coronavirus MHV-A59 infects the lung and causes severe pneumonia in C57BL/6 mice.
abstract: It remains challenging to develop animal models of lung infection and severe pneumonia by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome cornavirus (MERS-CoV) without high level of containment. This inevitably hinders understanding of virushost interaction and development of appropriate countermeasures. Here we report that intranasal inoculation of sublethal doses of murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus A-59 (MHV-A59), a hepatic and neuronal tropic coronavirus, can induce acute pneumonia and severe lung injuries in C57BL/6 mice. Inflammatory leukocyte infiltrations, hemorrhages and fibrosis of alveolar walls can be observed 2-11 days after MHV-A59 infection. This pathological manifestation is associated with dramatical elevation of tissue IP-10 and IFN-γ and moderate increase of TNF-α and IL-1β, but inability of anti-viral type I interferon response. These results suggest that intranasal infection of MHV-A59 would serve as a surrogate mouse model of acute respiratory distress syndrome by SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infections.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity (CASKLII), Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Zhangsheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xuanming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lishan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Genhong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D006517:Murine hepatitis virus / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines