Abstract
The human influenza A (H3N2) virus dominated the 2014-2015 winter season in many countries and caused massive morbidity and mortality because of its antigenic variation. So far, very little is known about the antigenic patterns of the recent H3N2 virus. By systematically mapping the antigenic relationships of H3N2 strains isolated since 2010, we discovered that two groups with obvious antigenic divergence, named SW13 (A/Switzerland/9715293/2013-like strains) and HK14 (A/Hong Kong/5738/2014-like strains), co-circulated during the 2014-2015 winter season. HK14 group co-circulated with SW13 in Europe and the United States during this season, while there were few strains of HK14 in mainland China, where SW13 has dominated since 2012. Furthermore, we found that substitutions near the receptor-binding site on hemagglutinin played an important role in the antigenic variation of both the groups. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the recent antigenic evolution of H3N2 virus and will aid in the selection of vaccine strains.
Highlights
The human influenza A (H3N2) virus dominated the 2014–2015 winter season in many countries and caused massive morbidity and mortality because of its antigenic variation
Based on a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) [15] and our phylogenetic analysis, we concluded that both SW13 and HK14 evolved from group VIC11 and fell into two distinct genetic clades, referred to as genetic clades 3C.2a and 3C.3 in the WHO report (Figure 1B)
Through systematic prediction and analysis of recent antigenic relationships, we have developed a comprehensive picture of the antigenic evolution of human influenza A (H3N2) strains from the 2010–2011 to 2014–2015 winter seasons
Summary
The human influenza A (H3N2) virus dominated the 2014–2015 winter season in many countries and caused massive morbidity and mortality because of its antigenic variation. We found that substitutions near the receptor-binding site on hemagglutinin played an important role in the antigenic variation of both the groups These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the recent antigenic evolution of H3N2 virus and will aid in the selection of vaccine strains. As indicated in a report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [5], in 2014–2015 the flu-associated hospitalization rate among people who were 65 years and older was the highest since the CDC began surveillance in 2005 Another CDC report indicated that more than two thirds of the influenza A (H3N2) strains circulating in 2014–2015 were antigenically distinct from the H3N2 vaccine strain A/Texas/50/2012, which was used to. Developments include our own predict antigenic cluster (PREDAC) method [14], which has shown good performance in clustering the antigenically similar strains of the human influenza A (H3N2) virus
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