Comparative serological assays for the study of H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses.

Molesti, Eleonora and Milani, Adelaide and Terragino, Calogero and Cattoli, Giovanni and Temperton, Nigel J. (2013) Comparative serological assays for the study of H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. Influenza Research and Treatment, . (Full text available)

Abstract

The nature of influenza virus to randomly mutate and evolve into new types is an important challenge in the control of influenza infection. It is necessary to monitor virus evolution for a better understanding of the pandemic risk posed by certain variants as evidenced by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses. This has been clearly recognized in Egypt following the notification of the first HPAI H5N1 outbreak. The continuous circulation of the virus and the mass vaccination programme undertaken in poultry has resulted in a progressive genetic evolution and a significant antigenic drift near the major antigenic sites. In order to establish if vaccination is sufficient to provide significant intra- and inter-clade cross-protection, lentiviral pseudotypes derived from H5N1 HPAI viruses (A/Vietnam/1194/04, A/chicken/Egypt-1709-01/2007) and an antigenic drift variant (A/chicken/Egypt-1709-06-2008) were constructed and used in pseudotype-based neutralization assays (pp-NT). Pp-NT data obtained was confirmed and correlated with HI and MN assays. A panel of pseudotypes belonging to influenza Group 1 and 2, with a combination of reporter systems, was also employed for testing avian sera in order to support further application of pp-NT as a valid assay alternative that can improve avian vaccination efficacy testing, vaccine virus selection, and the reliability of reference sera.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled keywords:	Avian influenza, cross-reactivity, neutralizing antibody response, lentiviral pseudotype, serological methods, vaccination efficacy.
Subjects:	Q Science > QR Microbiology > QR355 Virology
Divisions:	Faculties > Sciences > Medway School of Pharmacy
Depositing User:	Nigel Temperton
Date Deposited:	16 Aug 2013 23:46 UTC
Last Modified:	27 Jun 2017 18:03 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/34966 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)