Pass the Tissues

An article in the upcoming issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine looked at changes in gene expression in people with rhinovirus infections. The researchers took nasal scrapings from people inoculated with human rhinovirus 16 and from people who received sham inoculations two days before inoculation, as well as eight hours and two days later. They saw that 11,887 gene transcripts were changed in the two-day old scrapings and the up-regulated genes included chemokines, signaling molecules, interferon-responsive genes, and antivirals. The research was supported by a grant from Proctor and Gamble.