Hemagglutinin stalk antibodies elicited by the 2009 pandemic influenza virus as a mechanism for the extinction of seasonal H1N1 viruses.

ABSTRACT: After the emergence of pandemic influenza viruses in 1957, 1968, and 2009, existing seasonal viruses were observed to be replaced in the human population by the novel pandemic strains. We have previously hypothesized that the replacement of seasonal strains was mediated, in part, by a population-scale boost in antibodies specific for conserved regions of the hemagglutinin stalk and the viral neuraminidase. Numerous recent studies have shown the role of stalk-specific antibodies in neutralization of influenza viruses; the finding that stalk antibodies can effectively neutralize virus alters the existing dogma that influenza virus neutralization is mediated solely by antibodies that react with the globular head of the viral hemagglutinin. The present study explores the possibility that stalk

SUBMITTER: Pica N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3289326 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature