gms | German Medical Science

76th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

04.05. - 08.05.2005, Erfurt

Rhinoviruses infect epithelial cells via membrane rafts

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author Peter Franz - Dept. of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
  • Stephan Dreschers - Dept. of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
  • Claudia Dumitru - Dept. of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
  • Barbara Wilker - Dept. of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
  • Erich Gulbins - Dept. of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 76. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie e.V.. Erfurt, 04.-08.05.2005. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. Doc05hno194

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2005/05hno053.shtml

Published: September 22, 2005

© 2005 Franz et al.
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Outline

Text

The cell membrane predominantly contains phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. Sphingolipids and cholesterol spontaneously associate and separate from other phospholipids, which finally results in the formation of very small distinct membrane domains, named rafts. Rafts have been previously shown to be involved in the infection of human cells by several pathogens including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Neisseriae gonorrhoeae or HIV. However, it is unknown whether rhinoviruses also employ sphingomyelin-enriched membrane domains to infect human epithelial cells. Here, we demonstrate that infection of human nasal epithelial cells with several rhinovirus strains results in a re-organization of the cell membrane and the formation of large membrane platforms that were visualized employing the raft marker choleratoxin. Rhinoviruses localized to these membrane platforms. The significance of this finding is indicated by studies destroying membrane rafts employing the drugs beta-cyclodextrin, nystatin or filipin, respectively. These drugs prevented the infection of cultured or ex-vivo isolated nasal epithelial cells with rhinoviruses. Furthermore, rhinoviral infections induced an activation of tyrosine kinases and a re-organization of the cytoskeleton, events that were also prevented by destruction of membrane rafts. The data indicate that rhinoviruses infect human epithelial cells via rafts. Destruction of rafts efficiently prevents the infection and might be a novel approach for prevention or treatment of common cold.