A single amino acid substitution in influenza hemagglutinin abrogates recognition by monoclonal antibody and a spectrum of subtype-specific L3T4+ T cell clones.

A fine specificity analysis of influenza hemagglutinin-specific IAk-restricted T cell clones using natural virus variants of the H3N2 subtype, monoclonal antibody-selected variants and a synthetic peptide corresponding to a variable region of the HA1 polypeptide has provided insight on the structural basis for T cell recognition. A glycine to arginine substitution at HA1 135 abrogates recognition by a panel of T cell clones which, according to their reactivity for natural virus variants, have different antigenic specificities: three clones recognize a synthetic peptide (HA1 residues 118-138) but fail to recognize the monoclonal antibody-selected mutant (Gly135/Arg). There is no correlation, however, between differences in T cell specificity for the natural virus variants and HA1 amino acid sequences in this region. Two further clones have a reduced proliferative response to mutant recognize a completely different spectrum of natural variants, and only one of these clones recognizes the synthetic peptide. We speculate that influenza hemagglutinin employs a common strategy during antigenic drift to evade antibody recognition and effective processing/presentation to subtype-specific T cell clones.