H10N8 is the newest epidemic threat to human health from the avian influenza viruses, following in the footsteps of H7N9 and H5N1. To investigate the potential of H10 viruses to spread from birds to humans, Vachieri et al. compared H10 viruses with other influenza viruses for their ability to bind to human and avian receptor analogues. The avian H10 virus binds to both human and avian receptors with higher affinity than H7 avian and human viruses. Interestingly, although the binding of the H10 virus to human receptors is comparable with that of H1 and H3 viruses — the pandemic agents responsible for the 1918 Spanish flu and the 1968 Hong Kong flu, respectively — the H10 virus shows a strong preference for avian receptors, which is not shared by H1 and H3 viruses. These data suggest that, despite its ability to tightly bind to human receptors, the H10 virus would require mutations that switch its binding preference from avian to human receptors in order to efficiently spread among humans.
References
Vachieri, S. G. et al. Receptor binding by H10 influenza viruses. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13443 (2014)
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Nunes-Alves, C. The pandemic potential of H10N8. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 461 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3301
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3301