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Canonical features of human antibodies recognizing the influenza hemagglutinin trimer interface
Seth J. Zost, … , Andrew B. Ward, James E. Crowe Jr.
Seth J. Zost, … , Andrew B. Ward, James E. Crowe Jr.
Published June 22, 2021
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2021;131(15):e146791. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI146791.
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Research Article Immunology Article has an altmetric score of 10

Canonical features of human antibodies recognizing the influenza hemagglutinin trimer interface

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Abstract

Broadly reactive antibodies targeting the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) head domain are thought to be rare and to require extensive somatic mutations or unusual structural features to achieve breadth against divergent HA subtypes. Here we describe common genetic and structural features of protective human antibodies from several individuals recognizing the trimer interface (TI) of the influenza A HA head, a recently identified site of vulnerability. We examined the sequence of TI-reactive antibodies, determined crystal structures for TI antibody–antigen complexes, and analyzed the contact residues of the antibodies on HA to discover common genetic and structural features of TI antibodies. Our data reveal that many TI antibodies are encoded by a light chain variable gene segment incorporating a shared somatic mutation. In addition, these antibodies have a shared acidic residue in the heavy chain despite originating from diverse heavy chain variable gene segments. These studies show that the TI region of influenza A HA is a major antigenic site with conserved structural features that are recognized by a common human B cell public clonotype. The canonical nature of this antibody–antigen interaction suggests that the TI epitope might serve as an important target for structure-based vaccine design.

Authors

Seth J. Zost, Jinhui Dong, Iuliia M. Gilchuk, Pavlo Gilchuk, Natalie J. Thornburg, Sandhya Bangaru, Nurgun Kose, Jessica A. Finn, Robin Bombardi, Cinque Soto, Elaine C. Chen, Rachel S. Nargi, Rachel E. Sutton, Ryan P. Irving, Naveenchandra Suryadevara, Jonna B. Westover, Robert H. Carnahan, Hannah L. Turner, Sheng Li, Andrew B. Ward, James E. Crowe Jr.

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Figure 3

Identification and functional characterization of a new TI mAb lineage recalled in the response to vaccination and natural infection.

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Identification and functional characterization of a new TI mAb lineage r...
(A) Timeline showing the vaccination history of the research subject, with exposures and repertoire sequencing indicated. (B) Phylogenetic trees showing the FluA-151 lineage over 4 years of vaccination and infection, with branch colors corresponding to sequencing time point. At left, the heavy chain phylogeny for FluA-151 is color-coded based on year of vaccination and days postvaccination. At right, the light chain phylogeny for FluA-151 is shown. Paired heavy-light sequences identified by single-cell sequencing are shown with dashes connecting the heavy chain and light chain trees. (C) Binding of TI mAb FluA-151, a clonally related mAb (FluA-151_Sib1), and the inferred unmutated common ancestor of FluA-151 (FluA-151 UCA) to a panel of recombinant HAs. The previously described TI mAb FluA-20 and a recombinant version of the broadly reactive stem mAb MEDI-8852 are shown for comparison. FluA-20 and FluA-151 did not bind measurably to the A/New York/107/2003 HA, which has a 220 loop deletion. (D) ELISA binding of FluA-151 point mutants to HAs from different strains. Points and error bars represent the mean ± SD of technical triplicates. Experiments were repeated twice, with data from one representative experiment shown. (E) FluA-151 protection from weight loss in a sublethal H1N1 challenge model. Mice were passively transferred with either FluA-151 WT (blue), FluA-151 LALA-PG (red), the positive control anti-stem mAb MEDI-8852 (orange), or the negative control anti-dengue mAb 2D22 (purple) 1 day prior to intranasal challenge with a sublethal dose of A/California/04/2009. For weight loss curves, error bars show the SEM. Statistical comparisons between treatment groups were performed using a repeated measurements 2-way ANOVA with Tukey’s correction for multiple comparisons.

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

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