Approach to the involvement of influenza B neuraminidase in the cleavage of HA by host cell protease using low pH-induced cell fusion reaction

Development of Lentiviral Vectors Pseudotyped With Influenza B Hemagglutinins: Application in Vaccine Immunogenicity, mAb Potency, and Sero-Surveillance Studies

Influenza B viruses (IBV) cause respiratory disease epidemics in humans and are therefore components of seasonal influenza vaccines. Serological methods are employed to evaluate vaccine immunogenicity prior to licensure. However, classical methods to assess influenza vaccine immunogenicity such as the hemagglutination inhibition assay (HI) and the serial radial hemolysis assay (SRH), have been proven to have many limitations. As such, there is a need to develop innovative methods that can improve on these traditional assays and provide advantages such as ease of production and access, safety, reproducibility, and specificity. It has been previously demonstrated that the use of replication-defective viruses, such as lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with influenza A hemagglutinins in microneutralization assays (pMN) is a safe and sensitive alternative to study antibody responses elicited by natural influenza infection or vaccination. Consequently, we have produced Influenza B hemagglutinin-pseudotypes (IBV PV) using plasmid-directed transfection. To activate influenza B hemagglutinin, we have explored the use of proteases in increasing PV titers via their co-transfection during pseudotype virus production. When tested for their ability to transduce target cells, the influenza B pseudotypes produced exhibit tropism for different cell lines. The pseudotypes were evaluated as alternatives to live virus in microneutralization assays using reference sera standards, mouse and human sera collected during vaccine immunogenicity studies, surveillance sera from seals, and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against IBV. The influenza B pseudotype pMN was found to effectively detect neutralizing and cross-reactive responses in all assays and shows promise as an effective and versatile tool in influenza research.

Influenza Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase: Yin⁻Yang Proteins Coevolving to Thwart Immunity

Influenza A virions possess two surface glycoproteins-the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA)-which exert opposite functions. HA attaches virions to cells by binding to terminal sialic acid residues on glycoproteins/glycolipids to initiate the infectious cycle, while NA cleaves terminal sialic acids, releasing virions to complete the infectious cycle. Antibodies specific for HA or NA can protect experimental animals from IAV pathogenesis and drive antigenic variation in their target epitopes that impairs vaccine effectiveness in humans. Here, we review progress in understanding HA/NA co-evolution as each acquires epistatic mutations to restore viral fitness to mutants selected in the other protein by host innate or adaptive immune pressure. We also discuss recent exciting findings that antibodies to HA can function in vivo by blocking NA enzyme activity to prevent nascent virion release and enhance Fc receptor-based activation of innate immune cells.

Genetic and phenotypic analysis of reassortants of high growth and low growth strains of influenza B virus

The yield of influenza virus in eggs is critical to influenza vaccine production and availability, but the contribution of specific genes to the growth properties of influenza B viruses is not well understood. Influenza B/Beijing/184/93 and B/Shangdong/7/97 were chosen for study because B/Shangdong/7/97 replicated to several fold higher titers in eggs than B/Beijing/184/93 as demonstrated by hemagglutination titers and EID50. A reassortant with the HA, NP and PB2 genes from B/Beijing/184/93 and all other genes from B/Shangdong/7/97 had the high growth phenotype of B/Shangdong/7/97 in eggs, which suggests that NS, M, NA, PB1 or PA, or a combination of these genes derived from B/Shangdong/7/97 were needed for the high growth phenotype of the reassortants. A high degree of homology was found among the genetic sequences of B/Beijing/184/93, B/Shangdong/7/97, and other influenza B viruses. However, differences potentially related to growth characteristics were suggested by analysis of the deduced amino acid (AA) sequences of four genes: NS (NS1, NS2), M (BM2), NA (NA, NB) and PB1. The studies identify multiple genes that may affect growth of influenza B viruses in eggs.