Avian influenza virus infection risk in humans with chronic diseases

Saliva proteins may protect older people from influenza, however, it is often noted that hospitalizations and deaths after an influenza infection mainly occur in the elderly population living with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cancer. Our objective was to investigate the expression level of the terminal α2-3- and α2-6-linked sialic acids in human saliva from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), liver disease and gastric cancer (GC) patients and assess the binding activity of these linked sialic acids against influenza A viruses (IAV). We observed that the expression level of the terminal α2-3-linked sialic acids of elderly individuals with T2DM and liver disease were down-regulated significantly, and the terminal α2-6 linked sialic acids were up-regulated slightly or had no significant alteration. However, in the saliva of patients with GC, neither sialic acid was significantly altered. These findings may reveal that elderly individuals with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and liver disease, might be more susceptible to the avian influenza virus due to the decreased expression of terminal α2-3-linked sialic acids in their saliva.