Exploratory Spatial Analysis of In Vitro RSV Co-Infections

• Activity Number: 25
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 31, 2011 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): Ivan Simeonov*+ and Francesca Chiaromonte and John Fricks and Mary Poss and Xiaoyan Gong and Oekyung Kim
• Companies: Penn State University and Penn State University and Penn State University and Penn State University and Penn State University and Penn State University
• Keywords: Spatila point processes ; Respiratory syncytial virus ; Co-infections

Abstract

The cell response to virus infection is dynamic and is reflected by changes in cell susceptibility to infection. The response of human epithelial cells to sequential infections with human respiratory syncytial virus strains A2 and B were evaluated to determine if a primary infection with one strain will impact the ability of cells to be infected with the second as a function of virus strain and time elapsed between the two exposures. Infected cells were then visualized with fluorescent markers, and location of all cells in the tissue culture well were identified using imaging software. Tools from spatial statistics were employed to investigate the likelihood of a cell being infected given its proximity to a cell infected with either the homologous or heterologous virus. Point processes,K-functions, and simulation procedures were used to account for specific features of our data when assessing spatial associations. Our results suggest that intrinsic cell properties increase susceptibility of cells to infection, with a stronger effect seen with RSV-B then RSV-A.