Abstract
Despite the availability of vaccine prophylaxis and antiviral therapeutics, the influenza virus continues to have a significant, annual impact on the morbidity and mortality of human beings, highlighting the continued need for research in the field. Current vaccine strategies predominantly focus on raising a humoral response against hemagglutinin (HA)—the more abundant, immunodominant glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus. In fact, anti-HA antibodies are often neutralizing, and are used routinely to assess vaccine immunogenicity. Neuraminidase (NA), the other major glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus, has historically served as the target for antiviral drug therapy and is much less studied in the context of humoral immunity. Yet, the quest to discern the exact importance of NA-based protection is decades old. Also, while antibodies against the NA glycoprotein fail to prevent infection of the influenza virus, anti-NA immunity has been shown to lessen the severity of disease, decrease viral lung titers in animal models, and reduce viral shedding. Growing evidence is intimating the possible gains of including the NA antigen in vaccine design, such as expanded strain coverage and increased overall immunogenicity of the vaccine. After giving a tour of general influenza virology, this review aims to discuss the influenza A virus neuraminidase while focusing on both the historical and present literature on the use of NA as a possible vaccine antigen.
Highlights
Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Further studies from this paper revealed that most strains of influenza virus are capable of activating latent TGF-β (LTGF-β) in vitro, with H5N1 subtypes being the least able to do so [58]
H3N2 than those immunized with influenza B virus and the nasal wash titers were inversely proportional to serum anti-NA titer
Summary
Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA. Neuraminidase (NA), the other major glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus, has historically served as the target for antiviral drug therapy and is much less studied in the context of humoral immunity. While antibodies against the NA glycoprotein fail to prevent infection of the influenza virus, anti-NA immunity has been shown to lessen the severity of disease, decrease viral lung titers in animal models, and reduce viral shedding. After giving a tour of general influenza virology, this review aims to discuss the influenza A virus neuraminidase while focusing on both the historical and present literature on the use of NA as a possible vaccine antigen. The influenza virus has historically plagued the human race, causing yearly seasonal epidemics and—less frequently—global pandemics, as evidenced by the recent outbreak of H1N1 (originally termed ―swine flu‖) in 2009. The 20th century alone witnessed the occurrence of three influenza virus pandemics, the deadliest of which was the Spanish Flu of 1918, which claimed the lives of
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