Visualization of early influenza A virus trafficking in human dendritic cells using STED microscopy

Influenza A viruses (IAV) primarily target respiratory epithelial cells, but can also replicate in immune cells, including human dendritic cells (DCs). Super-resolution microscopy provides a novel method of visualizing viral trafficking by overcoming the resolution limit imposed by conventional light microscopy, without the laborious sample preparation of electron microscopy. Using three-color Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy, we visualized input IAV nucleoprotein (NP), early and late endosomal compartments (EEA1 and LAMP1 respectively), and HLA-DR (DC membrane/cytosol) by immunofluorescence in human DCs. Surface bound IAV were internalized within 5 min of infection. The association of virus particles with early endosomes peaked at 5 min when 50% of NP(+) signals were also EEA1(+). Peak association with late endosomes occurred at 15 min when 60% of NP(+) signals were LAMP1(+). At 30 min of infection, the majority of NP signals were in the nucleus. Our findings illustrate that early IAV trafficking in human DCs proceeds via the classical endocytic pathway.