Influenza H3 hemagglutinin vaccine with scrambled immunodominant epitopes elicits antibodies directed toward immunosubdominant head epitopes.

ABSTRACT: Vaccination is the most effective countermeasure to reduce the severity of influenza. Current seasonal influenza vaccines mainly elicit humoral immunity targeting hemagglutinin (HA). In particular, the amino acid residues around the receptor-binding site in the HA head domain are predominantly targeted by humoral immunity as "immunodominant" epitopes. However, mutations readily accumulate in the head domain due to high plasticity, resulting in antigenic drift and vaccine mismatch, particularly with influenza A (H3N2) viruses. A vaccine strategy that targets more conserved immunosubdominant epitopes is required to attain a universal vaccine. Here, we designed an H3 HA vaccine antigen with various amino acids at immunodominant epitopes of the HA head domain, termed scrambled HA (scrHA). In f

SUBMITTER: Chiba S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10470489 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature