据2月27日的《科学》杂志报道说，美国斯克利普斯研究所(TSRI)的Damian Ekiert及其同事披露了有关如何将一个人类的抗体与某一关键性流感蛋白结合的细节，该结合能够帮助人们研发针对季节性和大规模流行性感冒病毒的广谱疫苗。
这种叫做CR6261的抗体会与流感病毒血凝素蛋白的一个高度保守（即其结构在许多不同的流感病毒株中都非常相似）的区域结合。这一发现对那些希望设计一种较为“通用型”的流感疫苗的研究人员来说是一个好消息，因为该通用型疫苗可以中和多种流感病毒株并减弱新的流感大流行所造成的影响。
目前，人们对流感病毒的设计需要每年都进行猜测，以决定在流行季节中哪种病毒株将会流行。 Ekiert及其同僚对与CR6261结合的造成1918年致命性流感的病毒的血凝素蛋白的晶体结构以及该抗体与最近在亚洲造成禽流感爆发有关的病毒株的血凝素蛋白结合的晶体结构进行了检测。 在这两种情况下，该抗体似乎都阻止了血凝素发生使病毒与一个健康细胞融合所需要的那些变化。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science，DOI: 10.1126/science.1171491，Damian C. Ekiert，Ian A. Wilson
Antibody Recognition of a Highly Conserved Influenza Virus Epitope
Damian C. Ekiert 1, Gira Bhabha 1, Marc-André Elsliger 1, Robert H. E. Friesen 2, Mandy Jongeneelen 2, Mark Throsby 2, Jaap Goudsmit 2, Ian A. Wilson 3*
1 Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
2 Crucell Holland BV, Archimedesweg 4-6, 2301 CA Leiden, The Netherlands.
3 Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.; The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Influenza virus presents a significant and persistent threat to public health worldwide, and current vaccines provide immunity to viral isolates similar to the vaccine strain. High-affinity antibodies against a conserved epitope could provide immunity to the diverse influenza subtypes and protection against future pandemic viruses. Co-crystal structures were determined at 2.2 and 2.7 ? resolutions for broadly neutralizing human antibody CR6261 Fab in complexes with the major surface antigen (hemagglutinin, HA) from viruses responsible for the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic and a recent lethal case of H5N1 avian influenza. In contrast to other structurally characterized influenza antibodies, CR6261 recognizes a highly conserved helical region in the membrane-proximal stem of HA1/HA2. The antibody neutralizes the virus by blocking conformational rearrangements associated with membrane fusion. The CR6261 epitope identified here should accelerate the design and implementation of improved vaccines that can elicit CR6261-like antibodies, as well as antibody-based therapies for the treatment of influenza.
