RNAi screens in primary human lung cells reveal Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome proteins as influenza suppressors

Influenza is an important human pathogen that causes fatal disease in 250,000-500,000 people worldwide each year. Because of high levels of variation between influenza strains, vaccines are not always effective and must be administered annually. Influenza virus, which replicates primarily in the lung epithelium, encodes only 11 proteins and relies heavily on host products to replicate. Determining which cellular factors are important for influenza replication represents an important area of virology and cellular biology research, and could elucidate proteins or pathways to target for antiviral therapies.