Abstract
Hemagglutinin (HA) is most abundant glycoprotein on the influenza virus surface. Influenza HA promotes viral entry by engaging the receptor and mediating virus–host membrane fusion. At the same time, HA is the major antigen of the influenza virus. HA antigenic shift can result in pandemics, whereas antigenic drift allows human circulating strains to escape herd immunity. Most antibody responses against HA are strain-specific. However, antibodies that have neutralizing activities against multiple strains or even subtypes have now been discovered and characterized. These broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) target conserved regions on HA, such as the receptor-binding site and the stem domain. Structural studies of such bnAbs have provided important insight into universal influenza vaccine and therapeutic design. This review discusses the HA functions as well as HA–antibody interactions from a structural perspective.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | a038778 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology