Studies on the antibody response of mice and humans after immunization with potential influenza virus A (H1N1) vaccines

Abstract

The antibody response of mice and adult humans to immunization with subunit vaccines derived from a pair of antigenically distinct influenza A H1N1 viruses isolated in eggs was investigated. Although the haemagglutination molecule of each virus differed by only three amino acid residues, highly specific antibody responses were elicited in mice as determined by haemagglutination inhibition and radioimmunoprecipitation assays. Results from competitive radioimmunoassays using monoclonal antibodies of known specificity and a study of the reactivity of mouse antisera with H1N1 field strains indicated that the marked differences in the antibody responses to the two vaccines was due to an amino aci..