Influenza a virus protein PB1-F2 activates the NLRP3 inflammasome to induce inflammation

Abstract

IntroductionCharacteristic of pandemic influenza A virus (IAV) strains is the hyper-inflammatory response associated with infections which can lead to severe clinical symptoms and death. PB1-F2 is a non-structural IAV protein that has gained attention in recent years mainly attributable via its ability to increase pathogenicity by disrupting macrophages. Critical to human health, most avian influenza and human H3N2 viruses carry the information for full-length PB1-F2 protein, whereas human non-pandemic H1N1 IAV strains harbour a truncated version. Importantly, PB1-F2 peptides form protein aggregates and the formation of PB1-F2 amyloid-like fibres are observed in infected cells. There is incr..