Antigenic drift in the influenza A virus (H3N2) nucleoprotein and escape from recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

ABSTRACT: Viruses exploit different strategies to escape immune surveillance, including the introduction of mutations in cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes. The sequence of these epitopes is critical for their binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and recognition by specific CTLs, both of which interactions may be lost by mutation. Sequence analysis of the nucleoprotein gene of influenza A viruses (H3N2) isolated in The Netherlands from 1989 to 1999 revealed two independent amino acid mutations at the anchor residue of the HLA-B27-specific CTL epitope SRYWAIRTR (383 to 391). A R384K mutation was found in influenza A viruses isolated during the influenza season 1989-1990 but not in subsequent seasons. In the influenza season 1993-1994, a novel mutation in the same CTL

SUBMITTER: Voeten JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC112197 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature