46 Ferret studies using shifted challenge strains may help to det

46 Ferret studies using shifted challenge strains may help to determine whether the breadth of protection, or cross-neutralization, induced by sequential variant strain infections is greater for H1N1 than for H3N2. Repeated infection with different live virus strains preferentially induces

HA cross-reactive antibodies,10 and we hypothesize that these include pan-H1N1 neutralizing TSA HDAC concentration antibodies. One of the best-described targets for cross-neutralizing antibodies is the membrane-proximal region of HA that facilitates fusion; this region is conserved amongst H1N1 strains but distinct from H3N2.1 and 47 Antibodies that inhibit fusion are technically difficult to detect,48 but have been found amongst broadly-neutralizing monoclonal DZNeP solubility dmso antibodies raised in mice49 and 50 and in human phage-display antibody libraries.1, 47, 51, 52 and 53 It will also be important to examine neuraminidase inhibiting (NI) antibodies, which have been associated with protection against both infection and illness independent

of effects of HI antibodies.40 Recent studies also describe the detection of cross-reactive antibodies that trigger NK cell activation and in vitro elimination of influenza-infected cells in people lacking HI antibodies. 54 If the phenomenon observed in this study is replicable and widespread it may account for differences in the rate of antigenic evolution of the HA1 region of H1N1 compared to H3N2, as evidenced by nineteen drift variants identified for H3N2 over a 29 year period but only 6 for H1N1.18 Specifically, if the contribution of HI antibodies relative to non-HI antibodies to virus neutralization is less for H1N1 than

for H3N2, then the selective advantage of mutations within HI antibody binding sites will be less, and antigenic evolution will be slower. This hypothesis is consistent with the lower post-infection geometric mean HI titers we observed amongst RT-PCR confirmed H1N1 cases compared to H3N2 cases, with similar findings reported for the PIK3C2G comparison of live attenuated H1N1 and H3N2 vaccines55 and for studies of vaccine responses in the elderly.56 Non-HI antibodies could prevent HI antibody induction either by enhancing virus clearance or by competing for antigen. It will be important to confirm whether non-HI neutralizing antibodies account for the absence of a detectable protective effect of baseline H1N1 HI antibodies in our cohort. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust UK (grants 081613/Z/06/Z; 077078/Z/05/Z; and 087982AIA). AF was supported by the European Union FP7 project ‘‘European Management Platform for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease Entities (EMPERIE)’’ (no. 223498). We are grateful to the community of An Hoa Commune for agreeing to participate in this study and for providing their time. We would like to thank the hamlet health workers who conducted the interviews and surveillance.

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