Unmasking Stem-Specific Neutralizing Epitopes by Abolishing N-Linked Glycosylation Sites of Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Proteins for Vaccine Design.

ABSTRACT:

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Influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) protein consists of two components, i.e., a globular head region and a stem region that are folded within six disulfide bonds, plus several N-linked glycans that produce a homotrimeric complex structure. While N-linked glycosylation sites on the globular head are variable among different strains and different subtypes, N-linked glycosylation sites in the stem region are mostly well conserved among various influenza virus strains. Targeting highly conserved HA stem regions has been proposed as a useful strategy for designing universal influenza vaccines. Since the HA stem region is constituted by an HA1 N-terminal part and a full HA2 part, we expressed a series of recombinant HA mutant proteins with deleted N-linked glycosylation sites i

SUBMITTER: Liu WC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5021406 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature