Comparison of mass spectrometry and hemagglutinin inhibition assays to assess the antigenicity of the influenza virus

摘要

The hemagglutinin antigen of influenza binds to receptors on the host cell that facilitates entry of the virus to initiate its replication. Cross-reacting antibodies inactivate the antigen and prevent this. They also inhibit the hemagglutination of red blood cells and this process is used to advantage to screen circulating and emerging strains of the virus in a hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. As the sequence of the antigen evolves, through antigenic drift and shift, antibodies no longer inhibit hemagglutinination and a diverged or new strain is identified. While this serological approach is widely used to screen the virus, it provides no molecular detail about the structural changes that underlie the antigenic shift or drift afforded by a MS assay [1-4].