Primary differentiated respiratory epithelial cells respond to apical measles virus infection by shedding multinucleated giant cells

Abstract

Significance Measles virus (MeV) is highly infectious by the respiratory route, but respiratory epithelial cells are thought to be resistant to infection through the exposed apical surface and to require infection through the basolateral surface. We show that differentiated respiratory epithelial cells are actually highly susceptible to apical infection and that infection leads to formation of multinucleated giant cells that are shed from the epithelial sheet into the lumen leaving the epithelium intact and devoid of infected cells. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that MeV infection is initiated in respiratory epithelial cells with subsequent infection of lymphoid tissue and systemic spread.