Sex bias determines MERS-CoV infection outcomes in a mouse model of differential pathogenicity

Abstract

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes a spectrum of disease outcomes in infected humans, ranging from asymptomatic or tolerant to lethal. While the virus itself contributes to pathogenesis, disease severity is primarily influenced by the hosts response to infection. One factor observed to impact the host response is sex, as epidemiological data indicates that male persons have a higher case fatality rate than females infected with MERS-CoV. However, the mechanism underlying this sex bias is unknown and disease course remains difficult to predict. This study investigates how male and female transgenic mice expressing humanized dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (hDPP4) respond to MERS-CoV infection following exposure to either a tolerance-inducing low dose or lethal high dose. We observed that female hDPP4 mice display dose-dependent tolerance to infection and males experienced uniformly lethal disease in both dosing groups. Longitudinal transcriptomic analysis revealed that males suppress innate and inflammatory responses early after infection, causing delayed induction of the host antiviral response. In contrast, high dose females mount an immediate and sustained interferon and inflammatory response, activating antiviral effectors and interferon-stimulated genes. Tolerant females displayed the greatest transcriptional control, showing no pathway enrichment and minimal changes in weight throughout infection. Our results suggest that the magnitude of the response is driven by dose while the nature of the response in shaped by sex. Females mount a more robust response to MERS-CoV infection, allowing females to tolerate low-dose infection but causing uncontrolled inflammation after high dose infection. In contrast, males experienced lethal outcomes regardless of dose. By examining the dynamics of sex-biased host transcriptional responses in determining disease severity, this study highlights the importance of sex as a biological variable in coronavirus pathogenesis research.