Protective porcine influenza virus-specific monoclonal antibodies recognize similar haemagglutinin epitopes as humans

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009330
• Publication Date: 2021-03-04T18:27:02Z
• Authors: Barbara Holzer; Pramila Rijal; Adam McNee; Basudev Paudyal; Veronica Martini; Becky Clark; Tanuja Manjegowda; Francisco J. Salg...; Emily Bessell; John C. Schwartz; Katy Moffat; Miriam Pedrera; Simon P. Graham; Alistair Noble; Marie Bonnet-Di P...; Roberto M. La Rag...; William Mwangi; Peter Beverley; John W. McCauley; Rodney S. Daniels; John A. Hammond; Alain R. Townsend; Elma Tchilian
• Keywords: Original antigenic sin

Pigs are natural hosts for the same subtypes of influenza A viruses as humans and integrally involved in virus evolution with frequent interspecies transmissions both directions. The emergence 2009 pandemic H1N1 illustrates importance pigs zoonotic strains. Here we generated pig influenza-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from H1N1pdm09 infected pigs. mAbs recognized two major immunodominant haemagglutinin (HA) epitopes targeted by humans, one which is not post-infection ferret antisera that commonly used to monitor evolution. Neutralizing activity was comparable potent human anti-HA mAbs. Further, prophylactic administration a selected porcine mAb abolished lung viral load greatly reduced pathology but did eliminate nasal shedding after challenge. Hence pigs, target HA can significantly reduce disease severity. These results, together sizes indicate valuable model understanding how best apply therapy monitoring antigenic drift thereby providing information highly relevant making vaccine recommendations.