A Hemagglutinin Stem Vaccine Designed Rationally by AlphaFold2 Confers Broad Protection against Influenza B Infection.

ABSTRACT: Two lineages of influenza B viruses (IBV) co-circulating in human beings have been posing a significant public health burden worldwide. A substantial number of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have been identified targeting conserved epitopes on hemagglutinin (HA) stem domain, posing great interest for universal influenza vaccine development. Various strategies to design immunogens that selectively present these conserved epitopes are being explored. However, it has been a challenge to retain native conformation of the HA stem region, especially for soluble expression in prokaryotic systems. Here, using a structure prediction tool AlphaFold2, we rationally designed a stable stem antigen "B60-Stem-8071", an HA stem vaccine derived from B/Brisbane/60/2006 grafted with a CR8071 epitope

SUBMITTER: Zeng D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9229588 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature