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Sun Y, Zhu Y, Zhang P, Sheng S, Guan Z, Cong Y. Hemagglutinin glycosylation pattern-specific effects: implications for the fitness of H9.4.2.5-branched H9N2 avian influenza viruses. Emerg Microbes Infect 2024; 13:2364736. [PMID: 38847071 PMCID: PMC11182062 DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2364736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Since 2007, h9.4.2.5 has emerged as the most predominant branch of H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) that affects the majority of the global poultry population. The spread of this viral branch in vaccinated chicken flocks has not been considerably curbed despite numerous efforts. The evolutionary fitness of h9.4.2.5-branched AIVs must consequently be taken into consideration. The glycosylation modifications of hemagglutinin (HA) play a pivotal role in regulating the balance between receptor affinity and immune evasion for influenza viruses. Sequence alignment showed that five major HA glycosylation patterns have evolved over time in h9.4.2.5-branched AIVs. Here, we compared the adaptive phenotypes of five virus mutants with different HA glycosylation patterns. According to the results, the mutant with 6 N-linked glycans displayed the best acid and thermal stability and a better capacity for multiplication, although having a relatively lower receptor affinity than 7 glycans. The antigenic profile between the five mutants revealed a distinct antigenic distance, indicating that variations in glycosylation level have an impact on antigenic drift. These findings suggest that changes in the number of glycans on HA can not only modulate the receptor affinity and antigenicity of H9N2 AIVs, but also affect their stability and multiplication. These adaptive phenotypes may underlie the biological basis for the dominant strain switchover of h9.4.2.5-branched AIVs. Overall, our study provides a systematic insight into how changes in HA glycosylation patterns regulate the evolutionary fitness and epidemiological dominance drift of h9.4.2.5-branched H9N2 AIVs, which will be of great benefit for the glycosylation-dependent vaccine design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixue Sun
- Department of Policies and Regulations, Changchun University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yanting Zhu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Pengju Zhang
- Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shouzhi Sheng
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zhenhong Guan
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yanlong Cong
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Sun Y, Cong Y, Yu H, Ding Z, Cong Y. Assessing the effects of a two-amino acid flexibility in the Hemagglutinin 220-loop receptor-binding domain on the fitness of Influenza A(H9N2) viruses. Emerg Microbes Infect 2021; 10:822-832. [PMID: 33866955 PMCID: PMC8812783 DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2021.1919566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The enzootic and zoonotic nature of H9N2 avian influenza viruses poses a persistent threat to the global poultry industry and public health. In particular, the emerging sublineage h9.4.2.5 of H9N2 viruses has drawn great attention. In this study, we determined the effects of the flexibility at residues 226 and 227 in the hemagglutinin on the receptor avidity and immune evasion of H9N2 viruses. The solid-phase direct binding assay showed that residue 226 plays a core role in the receptor preference of H9N2 viruses, while residue 227 affects the preference of the virus for a receptor. Consequently, each of these two successive residues can modulate the receptor avidity of H9N2 viruses and influence their potential of zoonotic infection. The antigenic map based on the cross-hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers revealed that amino acid substitutions at positions 226 or 227 appear to be involved in antigenic drift, potentially resulting in the emergence of H9N2 immune evasion mutants. Further analysis suggested that increased receptor avidity facilitated by residue 226Q or 227M resulted in a reduction in the HI titer. Among the four naturally-occurring amino acid combinations comprising QQ, MQ, LQ, and LM, the number of viruses with LM accounted for 79.64% of the sublineage h9.4.2.5 and the rescued virus with LM exhibited absolute advantages of in vitro and in vivo replication and transmission. Collectively, these data demonstrate that residues 226 and 227 are under selective pressure and their synergistic regulation of receptor avidity and antigenicity is related to the evolution of circulating H9N2 viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixue Sun
- Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
- JilinResearch & Development Center of Biomedical Engineering, Chanchung University, Changchun, People's Republic of China
| | - Yulin Cong
- Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
| | - Haiying Yu
- Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhuang Ding
- Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yanlong Cong
- Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
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Akram A, Lin A, Gracey E, Streutker CJ, Inman RD. HLA-B27, but not HLA-B7, immunodominance to influenza is ERAP dependent. THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2014; 192:5520-8. [PMID: 24835397 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1400343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Endoplasmic reticulum-associated aminopeptidase-1 (ERAP1) plays a critical role in the processing of peptides prior to binding to MHC class I molecules. In this article, we show for the first time, to our knowledge, that the HLA-B27 immunodominant influenza nucleoprotein (NP) 383-391 epitope is made as an N-terminally extended 14-mer before it is trimmed by ERAP. In the absence of ERAP, there is a significant reduction in the CTL response to the B27/NP383-391 epitope in influenza A (flu)-infected B27/ERAP(-/-) mice. With the use of tetramer staining, the number of naive CD8(+) T cells expressing TCR Vβ8.1 in B27/ERAP(-/-) transgenic mice is significantly lower than that seen in B27/ERAP(+/+) mice. HLA-B27 surface expression in naive and flu-infected B27/ERAP(-/-) mice is also lower than the expression seen for the same allele in naive and flu-infected B27/ERAP(+/+) mice. In contrast, surface expression of HLA-B7 was unaffected by the absence of ERAP in B7/ERAP(-/-) transgenic mice. The B7-restricted NP418-426 CTL response in flu-infected B7/ERAP(-/-) and B7/ERAP(+/+) mice was also similar. These results provide, to our knowledge, the first in vivo demonstration of ERAP functionally influencing host immune response in an HLA allele-specific manner. This principle has relevance to diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, in which HLA-B27 and ERAP jointly contribute to disease predisposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Akram
- Division of Genetics & Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T-2S8; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; and
| | - Aifeng Lin
- Division of Genetics & Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T-2S8
| | - Eric Gracey
- Division of Genetics & Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T-2S8; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; and
| | - Catherine J Streutker
- University of Toronto, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. Division of Pathology, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 1W8
| | - Robert D Inman
- Division of Genetics & Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T-2S8; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8; and
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