Abstract
Influenza A virus (IAV) subtypes against which little or no pre-existing immunity exists in humans represent a serious threat to global public health. Monitoring of IAV in animal hosts is essential for early and rapid detection of potential pandemic IAV strains to prevent their spread. Recently, the increased pandemic potential of the avian-like swine H1N1 IAV A/swine/Guangdong/104/2013 has been suggested. The virus is infectious in humans and the general population seems to lack neutralizing antibodies against this virus. Here we present an in silico analysis that shows a strong human propensity of this swine virus further confirming its pandemic potential. We suggest mutations which would further enhance its human propensity. We also propose conserved antigenic determinants which could serve as a component of a prepandemic vaccine. The bioinformatics tool, which can be used to further monitor the evolution of swine influenza viruses towards a pandemic virus, are described here and are made publically available (http://www.vin.bg.ac.rs/180/tools/iav_mon.php; http://www.biomedprotection.com/iav_mon.php).
Highlights
Influenza A virus (IAV) infections are the major cause of serious human respiratory tract infections worldwide
We developed a bioinformatics platform for the assessment of the pandemic potential of IAV based on the informational spectrum method (ISM)
Our results revealed a strong human propensity and a very high pandemic potential of swine IAV (SIV) represented by the A/swine/Guangdong/104/2013 virus
Summary
Influenza A virus (IAV) infections are the major cause of serious human respiratory tract infections worldwide. The principal antigenic determinant of IAV is glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) on the surface of the virus that stimulates host neutralization antibody responses. There are 18 different HA subtypes which are named H1 through H18. This viral protein is synthesized as a precursor that is glycosylated and cleaved into two smaller polypeptides: the HA1 and HA2 subunits. HA1 allows the recognition of target vertebrate cells, accomplished through the binding to these cells' sialic acid-containing receptors). HA2 mediates fusion of the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0165451. HA2 mediates fusion of the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0165451 November 9, 2016
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