Agarose-free protocol for preparing human organotypic lung cultures to study respiratory virus infection and evaluate antivirals ex vivo
Here, we present a protocol to generate human organotypic lung cultures from surgical lung resection for the study of respiratory infections. We describe steps for tissue harvesting, biopsy punching, mechanical slicing, and culture at the air-liquid interface. This technique enables robust ex vivo infections of human lung tissues with respiratory viruses, including influenza A and Nipah. It can be used to study host-pathogen interactions, analyze innate immune responses, and evaluate antiviral candidates in physiologically relevant human lung tissue. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Cezard et al. 1
Authors
- Eva Ogire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0495-4375)
- Camille David (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3625-2842)
- Antoine Guillon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4884-8620)
- Antoine Legras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5271-6946)
- Mustapha Si‐Tahar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5792-7742)
- Damien Sizaret (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8021-0342)
- Cyrille Mathieu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6682-2029)
- Adeline Cezard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8608-701X)
- Virginie Vasseur
- Anne Aublin‐Gex (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7601-4965)
- Vincent Lotteau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0997-3282)
- Lola Canus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8061-4786)
- Florentine Jacolin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5527-8323)
- Amélie Bourgeais
- Fabienne Archer
- Pierre-Olivier Vidalain
- Alexandra Erny
- Laure Perrin-Cocon
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- Université de Tours (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Tours (FR)
- Le Laboratoire P4 Inserm Jean Mérieux (FR)
- Virologie et Pathologies Humaines (FR)
- Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- STAR Protocols
- Published
- 2026-10-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2026.104896
- Primary Topic
- Respiratory viral infections research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Infrastructures en Biologie Santé et Agronomie
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
- Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida et les Hépatites Virales
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Research Executive Agency
- Agence de l'innovation de Défense
- HORIZON EUROPE Reforming and enhancing the European Research and Innovation system