Mapping of an H5N1 influenza MAb epitope on hemagglutinin and the conformational dependence of binding.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 — Poster Session III
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	FAES Academic Center	NIAID	VIROL-2

Authors

• J.R. Gallagher
• A.K. Harris

Abstract

In the U.S., between 5% and 20% of the population is sickened with influenza virus each year. Discovery of broadly neutralizing antibodies that bind the conserved stem region of antigenically distinct hemagglutinin subtypes have catalyzed efforts to develop immunogens for universal influenza vaccines that would elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting multiple influenza subtypes. Here, we further characterize a monoclonal antibody FP-01 with an epitope mapping to the HA2 region of hemagglutinin. We found that FP-01 can bind soluble hemagglutinin protein as well as hemagglutinin on the cell surface. Binding of FP-01 was specific to H5, suggesting that it maps to a region other than the conserved Helix A of HA2 stem region. The epitope of FP01 may indicate a novel conserved stem epitope within H5 variants and may further inform influenza vaccine design.

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