@article{d926ba7ea7314129bad8e5b15190e7e4,
title = "A naturally protective epitope of limited variability as an influenza vaccine target",
abstract = "Current antigenic targets for influenza vaccine development are either highly immunogenic epitopes of high variability or conserved epitopes of low immunogenicity. This requires continuous update of the variable epitopes in the vaccine formulation or boosting of immunity to invariant epitopes of low natural efficacy. Here we identify a highly immunogenic epitope of limited variability in the head domain of the H1 haemagglutinin protein. We show that a cohort of young children exhibit natural immunity to a set of historical influenza strains which they could not have previously encountered and that this is partially mediated through the epitope. Furthermore, vaccinating mice with these epitope conformations can induce immunity to human H1N1 influenza strains that have circulated since 1918. The identification of epitopes of limited variability offers a mechanism by which a universal influenza vaccine can be created; these vaccines would also have the potential to protect against newly emerging influenza strains.",
author = "Thompson, {Craig P.} and Jos{\'e} Louren{\c c}o and Walters, {Adam A.} and Uri Obolski and Matthew Edmans and Palmer, {Duncan S.} and Kreepa Kooblall and Carnell, {George W.} and Daniel O{\textquoteright}Connor and Bowden, {Thomas A.} and Pybus, {Oliver G.} and Pollard, {Andrew J.} and Temperton, {Nigel J.} and Teresa Lambe and Gilbert, {Sarah C.} and Sunetra Gupta",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Dr John S, Tregoning Imperial College for kindly providing us with the viruses for the influenza challenge. We thank the parents/guardians who gave written informed consent for use of these sera samples analysed in this study, with ethical approval by a local research ethics committee, South Central–Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee (ref: 16/SC/0141). Funding for the study was provided by a Royal Society Translation Award, a MRC confidence-in-concept grant and an ERC Advanced grant (DIVERSITY). O.G.P. and C.P.T, were supported by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/European Research Council (614725-PATH-PHYLODYN). S.G, J.L and C.P.T were supported by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/20–2013)/European Research Council)/European Research Council (268904-DIVERSITY). U.O. was supported through an EMBO fellowship. The Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics is supported by grant 203141/Z/16/Z. T.A.B. is supported by MRC grant MR/L009528/1. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, The Author(s).",
year = "2018",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-06228-8",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}
