An anti-influenza combined therapy assessed by single cell RNA-sequencing.

Influenza makes millions of people ill every year, placing a large burden on the healthcare system and the economy. To develop a treatment against influenza, we combined virucidal sialylated cyclodextrins with interferon lambda and demonstrated, in human airway epithelia, that the two compounds inhibit the replication of a clinical H1N1 strain more efficiently when administered together rather than alone. We investigated the mechanism of action of the combined treatment by single cell RNA-sequencing analysis and found that both the single and combined treatments impair viral replication to different extents across distinct epithelial cell types.