Hemagglutinin 'Hook' Could Be H1N1's Unexpected Weakness

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have found an unexpected weakness in H1N1's method for evading detection by the immune system. They say the virus has been keeping a secret that may be the key to defeating it and other flu viruses as well. Comparing its genetic sequences going all the way back to the virus's first known appearance in the deadly "Spanish flu" outbreak of 1918, they discovered a previously unrealized role of receptor-binding residues in host evasion, which effectively becomes a bottleneck that keeps the virus in check. The team compared the sequences of more than 300 strains of H1N1 to track its evolution; Their results appear in a recent online edition of PLoS One. read more

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