A person who contracted the strain of influenza responsible for the 2009–10 pandemic produced an antibody with the remarkable ability to block all strains of influenza A.
Antonio Lanzavecchia at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona, Switzerland, John Skehel of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London and their team scoured 104,000 white blood cells from eight people. They identified four B cells from one donor that churn out an antibody, dubbed FI6, which recognizes the haemagglutinin coat protein made by all 16 subtypes of influenza A viruses. Mice and ferrets given FI6 or a modified version of it survived infection with different flu strains that killed untreated animals.
The crystal structure of the antibody when bound to different haemagglutinin proteins offers a target for the design of a universal flu vaccine able to spark a similar immune response, the authors say.
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An antibody for all flu strains. Nature 476, 9 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/476009c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/476009c
