Sign up for PNAS Online eTocs
Link: Info for AuthorsLink: Editorial BoardLink: AboutLink: SubscribeLink: AdvertiseLink: ContactLink: Sitemap Link: PNAS Home
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Link: Current Issue "" Link: Archives "" Link: Online Submission ""  Link: Advanced Search


PNAS | January 2, 2007 | vol. 104 | no. 1 | 246-251


This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supporting Information
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a colleague
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Copyright Permission
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (9)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bui, H.-H.
Right arrow Articles by Sette, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bui, H.-H.
Right arrow Articles by Sette, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg  
What's this?

 Previous Article  | Table of Contents |  Next Article 

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / IMMUNOLOGY
Ab and T cell epitopes of influenza A virus, knowledge and opportunities

Huynh-Hoa Bui*, Bjoern Peters*, Erika Assarsson*, Innocent Mbawuike{dagger}, and Alessandro Sette*,{ddagger}

*Division of Vaccine Discovery, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 9420 Athena Circle, La Jolla, CA 92037; and {dagger}Department of Molecular Virology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030

Communicated by Howard M. Grey, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, San Diego, CA, November 1, 2006 (received for review October 1, 2006)

The Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resources (IEDB) (www.immuneepitope.org) was recently developed to capture epitope related data. IEDB also hosts various bioinformatics tools that can be used to identify novel epitopes as well as to analyze and visualize existing epitope data. Herein, a comprehensive analysis was undertaken (i) to compile and inventory existing knowledge regarding influenza A epitopes and (ii) to determine possible cross-reactivities of identified epitopes among avian H5N1 and human influenza strains. At present, IEDB contains >600 different epitopes derived from 58 different strains and 10 influenza A proteins. By using the IEDB analysis resources, conservancy analyses were performed, and several conserved and possibly cross-reactive epitopes were identified. Significant gaps in the current knowledge were also revealed, including paucity of Ab epitopes in comparison with T cell epitopes, limited number of epitopes reported for avian influenza strains/subtypes, and limited number of epitopes reported from proteins other than hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein. This analysis provides a resource for researchers to access existing influenza epitope data. At the same time, the analysis illustrates gaps in our collective knowledge that should inspire directions for further study of immunity against the influenza A virus.

B lymphocytes | T lymphocytes | conservancy | pandemic cross-reactivity

Author contributions: A.S. designed research; H.-H.B. and B.P. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; H.-H.B., B.P., E.A., and I.M. analyzed data; and H.-H.B. and E.A. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0609330104/DC1.

{ddagger}To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: alex{at}liai.org

© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:


Home page
 J. Immunol.Home page
M. Roti, J. Yang, D. Berger, L. Huston, E. A. James, and W. W. Kwok
Healthy Human Subjects Have CD4+ T Cells Directed against H5N1 Influenza Virus
J. Immunol., February 1, 2008; 180(3): 1758 - 1768.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.Home page
U. E. NYDEGGER
Immune Complex Pathophysiology
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., August 1, 2007; 1109(1): 66 - 83.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]