Defining the kinetic effects of infection with influenza virus A/PR8/34 (H1N1) on sphingosine-1-phosphate signaling in mice by targeted LC/MS

Influenza remains a world-wide health concern, causing 290,000-600,000 deaths and up to 5 million cases of severe illnesses annually. Noticing the host factors that control biological responses, such as inflammatory cytokine secretion, to influenza virus infection is important for the development of novel drugs. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive sphingolipid metabolite and has essential biological functions in inflammation. However, the kinetic effects of influenza virus infection on physiological S1P levels and their signaling in multiple tissues remain unknown. In this study, we utilized a mouse model intranasally infected with 50 or 500 plaque forming units (PFU) of A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (H1N1; PR8) virus to investigate how S1P levels and expression of its regulating factors are affected by influenza virus infection by the liquid-chromatography/mass spectrometry and real-time PCR, respectively. The S1P level was significantly high in the plasma of mice infected with 500 PFU of the virus than that in control mice at 6 day-post-infection (dpi). Elevated gene expression of sphingosine kinase-1 (Sphk1), an S1P synthase, was observed in the liver, lung, white adipose tissue, heart, and aorta of infected mice. This could be responsible for the increased plasma S1P levels as well as the decrease in the hepatic S1P lyase (Sgpl1) gene in the infected mice. These results indicate modulation of S1P-signaling by influenza virus infection. Since S1P regulates inflammation and leukocyte migration, it must be worth trying to target this signaling to control influenza-associated symptoms.