Discordant Correlation between Serological Assays Observed When Measuring Heterosubtypic Responses against Avian Influenza H5 and H7 Viruses in Unexposed Individuals

Molesti, Eleonora and Ferrara, Francesca and Lapini, Giulia and Montomoli, Emanuele and Temperton, Nigel J. (2014) Discordant Correlation between Serological Assays Observed When Measuring Heterosubtypic Responses against Avian Influenza H5 and H7 Viruses in Unexposed Individuals. In: International Meeting on Emerging Diseases and Surveillance (IMED 2014), 31 Oct - 03 Nov 2014, Vienna, Austria. (doi:Poster 22.028) (Full text available)

Abstract

Purpose: The human population is constantly exposed to multiple influenza A subtypes due to zoonotic spillover and rapid viral evolution driven by intrinsic error-prone replication and immunological pressure. In this context, antibody responses directed against the HA protein are of importance since they have been shown to correlate with protective immunity. Serological techniques, detecting these responses, play a critical role for influenza surveillance, vaccine development, and assessment. As the recent human pandemics and avian influenza outbreaks have demonstrated, there is an urgent need to be better prepared to assess the contribution of the antibody response to protection against newly emerged viruses and to evaluate the extent of preexisting heterosubtypic immunity in populations. Methods & Materials: SRH, HI, MN and pp-NT were used in a comparative serology approach to deliniate the humoral response against avian viruses in human sera. Results: In this study, 68 serum samples collected from the Italian population between 1992 and 2007 were found to be positive for antibodies against H5N1 as determined by single radial hemolysis (SRH), but most were negative when evaluated using haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralisation (MN) assays. Conclusion: As a result of these discordant serological findings, the increased sensitivity of lentiviral pseudotypes was exploited in pseudotype- based neutralisation (pp-NT) assays and the results obtained provide further insight into the complex nature of humoral immunity against influenza A viruses.

Item Type:	Conference or workshop item (Poster)
Subjects:	Q Science > QR Microbiology > QR355 Virology
Divisions:	Faculties > Sciences > Medway School of Pharmacy
Depositing User:	Nigel Temperton
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2014 12:47 UTC
Last Modified:	27 Apr 2016 11:40 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/43720 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)