In 2009, a novel swine-origin H1N1 influenza virus emerged in Mexico and quickly spread to other countries, including China. This 2009 pandemic H1N1 can cause human respiratory disease, but its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Here, we studied the infection and pathogenesis of a new 2009 pandemic strain, A/Wenshan/01/2009 H1N1, in China in human airway epithelial cell lines compared with contemporary seasonal H1N1 influenza virus. Our results showed that viral infection by the A/Wenshan H1N1 induced significant apoptotic cell death in both the human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line CNE-2Z and the human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549. The A/Wenshan H1N1 virus enters both of these cell types more efficiently than the seasonal influenza virus. Viral entry in both cell lines was shown to be mediated by clathrin- and dynamin-dependent endocytosis. Therefore, we discovered that the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strain, A/Wenshan/01/2009, can induce apoptotic cell death in epithelial cells of the human respiratory tract, suggesting a molecular pathogenesis for the 2009 pandemic H1N1.
