Human antibody reveals hidden vulnerability in influenza virus

Discovery by NIAID-funded researchers could aid quest for universal flu vaccine. The ever-changing “head” of an influenza virus protein has an unexpected Achilles heel, report scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health. The team discovered and characterized the structure of a naturally occurring human antibody that recognizes and disrupts a portion of the hemagglutinin (HA) protein that the virus uses to enter and infect cells. The investigators determined that the antibody, FluA-20, binds tightly to an area on the globular head of the HA protein that is only very briefly accessible to antibody attack. The site was not expected to be vulnerable to such a strike. James E. Crowe, Jr., M.D., of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, and Ian A. Wilson, D. Phil., of The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, California, led the team. They isolated FluA-20 antibody from...