Lees, William D. and Moss, David S. and Shepherd, Adrian J. (2014) Evolution in the influenza A H3 stalk - a challenge for broad-spectrum vaccines? Journal of General Virology 95 (2), pp. 317-324. ISSN 0022-1317.
Abstract
Recently a number of broad-spectrum human antibodies binding to the stalk region of influenza A haemagglutinin (HA) have been isolated. As this region tends to develop substitutions at a slower rate than other regions of HA, a vaccine eliciting such antibodies could have a longer effective life. But this begs a question: is the stalk resistant to change even in the face of evolutionary pressure? In this paper, we analyse the known epitopes in the H3 stalk, and, utilising a collection of 3,440 sequences, present a novel approach for detecting putative B-cell epitopes in regions such as this, in which mutations occur infrequently. We conclude that there have been periods of activity in the stalk that are consistent with the evolution of antigenic escape. This work casts light on the presence of stalk-binding antibodies in the population as a whole and, through the analysis of antigenically active regions in the stalk, may contribute to the identification of epitopes that are refractive to change and hence useful for vaccine development.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | antibody binding, influenza A, vaccines |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Bioinformatics, Bloomsbury Centre for (Closed), Structural Molecular Biology, Institute of (ISMB) |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Nov 2013 09:12 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:08 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/8756 |
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