Objectives: The main objective has been to determine molecular mechanisms of virus-host interactions critical for human viral infectious disease, focusing on respiratory viruses and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Our approach has been translational, determining innate immune responses to airway viruses in naturally occurring infections in children and correlating to virus-elicited innate immune and pathogenic mediators in relevant human primary cells (nasal epithelial cells, Air-Liquid-Interface culture, human macrophages).

Outcomes: Aiming to determine innate immune molecular mechanisms we identified novel regulatory mechanisms of IRF1-IFN-lambda that may impact on targeting host defences at mucosal surfaces and that we have explored in a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie ITN project on Antiviral Immunometabolism. In relation to HCV and chronic liver disease our ambition was to establish functions of autophagy in productive HCV infection, resulting in the identification of a novel function of the Crohns` disease risk factor IRGM.