A mouse model of human coronavirus HCoV-NL63 infection: comparison with rhinovirus-A1B
We establish a mouse model of HCoV-NL63 and compare outcomes with a model of rhinovirus (RV)-A1B.  Transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 were infected intranasally with sham LLC-MK2 cell lysate,  100,000 TCID50 units HCoV-NL63, or 1,000,000 PFU RV-A1B.  Lungs were assessed for host gene expression by next generation sequencing.  RNAseq showed increases in IFN-a, IFN-ß, IFN-? and many IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) in NL63-infected mice.  In addition to ISGs, RV-A1B induced expression of IFN-?, IL-1ß, NLRP3, TLR2 and C-X-C chemokines. We established a mouse model of HCoV-NL63 replicative infection characterized by expression of ISGs but fewer pro-inflammatory genes compared to RV-A1B. Overall design: Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for B6.Cg-Tg(K18-ACE2)2Prlmn/J mice treated with RVA1B or HCoV-NL63.