Redlberger Monika, Aberle Stephan W, Heinz Franz X, Popow-Kraupp Therese
Institute of Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, A-1095 Vienna, Austria.
Vaccine. 2007 Aug 10;25(32):6061-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2007.05.045. Epub 2007 Jun 11.
Human influenza viruses are subject to continuous antigenic drift and this phenomenon poses great problems for the annual production of vaccines which should ideally be manufactured from strains closely matching the predominant strains of the coming influenza season. We have investigated the dynamics of antigenic and genetic changes in the hemagglutinins of circulating influenza A/H3N2 strains in three consecutive seasons (2002/2003 to 2004/2005) in Austria by sequence analysis of the HA1 domain and by antigenic characterization using a hemagglutination inhibition assay. Each of the three seasons was dominated by a single and different H3N2 variant, but in all cases sequencing revealed the co-circulation of a drift variant which would have been missed by conventional antigenic analysis. These emerging strains always showed already a close genetic relationship to the dominating strain of the following season. Our results underscore the value of monitoring seasonal influenza strain dynamics by sequence analysis as an instrument that can provide important and timely information on the appearance of strains with epidemiologic significance.
人流感病毒会持续发生抗原漂移，这种现象给每年的疫苗生产带来了巨大问题，理想情况下，疫苗应采用与即将到来的流感季节主要毒株密切匹配的毒株来生产。我们通过对HA1结构域进行序列分析，并使用血凝抑制试验进行抗原特性鉴定，研究了奥地利连续三个季节（2002/2003至2004/2005）中流行的甲型H3N2流感毒株血凝素的抗原和基因变化动态。三个季节中的每个季节都由单一且不同的H3N2变异株主导，但在所有情况下，测序都揭示了一种漂移变异株的共同流行，而这种变异株通过传统抗原分析是会被遗漏的。这些新出现的毒株总是已经与下一季的主导毒株显示出密切的遗传关系。我们的结果强调了通过序列分析监测季节性流感毒株动态的价值，序列分析作为一种工具，可以提供有关具有流行病学意义的毒株出现的重要且及时的信息。
