Lung macrophages use the scavenger receptor MARCO to bind and ingest bacteria, particulate matter, and post cellular debris. We investigated the role of MARCO in influenza A virus (IAV) pneumonia. In contrast to higher susceptibility to bacterial infection, MARCO 2/2 mice had lower morbidity and mortality from influenza pneumonia than wild-type (WT) mice. The early course of influenza in MARCO 2/2 lungs was marked by an enhanced but transient neutrophilic inflammatory response and significantly lower viral replication compared with the WT mice. At later time points, no significant differences in lung histopathology or absolute numbers of T lymphocyte influx were evident. Uptake of IAV by WT and MARCO 2/2 bronchoalveolar lavage macrophages in vitro was similar. By LPS coadministration, we demonstrated that rapid neutrophil and monocyte influx during the onset of influenza suppressed viral replication, indicating a protective role of early inflammation. We hypothesized that the presence of increased basal proinflammatory post cellular debris in the absence of scavenging function lowered the inflammatory response threshold to IAV in MARCO 2/2 mice. Indeed, MARCO 2/2 mice showed increased accumulation of proinflammatory oxidized lipoproteins in the bronchoalveolar lavage early in the infection process, which are the potential mediators of the observed enhanced inflammation. These results indicate that MARCO suppresses a protective early inflammatory response to influenza, which modulates viral clearance and delays recovery.Keywords: inflammation; scavenger receptors; leukocytes; chemokines; pathology; oxidized lipoproteins Influenza is a significant public health concern, being responsible for large numbers of deaths and hospitalizations each year in the United States (1) and worldwide.A successful immune response to influenza balances antiviral mechanisms and the regulation of the inflammation to prevent excessive tissue damage. The early events in the innate immune response often hold the key to such processes (2). After activation by virus, alveolar macrophages (AMs) become highly phagocytic, produce high amounts of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-a (3), and initiate a cascade of immune responses. AM depletion studies have shown that AMs are indispensable in controlling influenza virus in mice (4) and pigs (5) and in preventing uncontrolled expansion of virus-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes in mouse lungs (6). Activation of macrophage inflammasome pathways by viral RNA is one mechanism linked to decreased morbidity in mouse models (7) and operates in part through recruitment of neutrophils. More generally, neutrophils, which rapidly infiltrate the lung after influenza A virus (IAV) infection, release microbicidal products, such as reactive oxygen species, cationic peptides, eicosanoids, proteolytic enzymes, and elastase (8). Depletion of lung neutrophils in mice, followed by IAV infection, resulted in higher viral titers and increased mortality (9, 10). Mice deficient in mouse chemoattractant protein (...