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Effect of Test System on the Ability of Monoclonal Antibodies to Detect Antigenic Drift in Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Haemagglutinins

¹ Virology
² Immunology Divisions, Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia 30333
³ St. Jude Children's Hospital for Research, Memphis, Tennessee 38101, U.S.A.

Results of analysing antigenic variation in the haemagglutinin (HA) molecule of naturally occurring influenza A (H1N1) viruses from 1977 to 1979 with monoclonal antibodies were found to be dependent in some instances on the test system used. In several instances A/USSR/90/77 HA-specific monoclonal antibodies had sharply reduced haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) titres with variant virus although they bound to the variant and A/USSR/90/77 HAs with similar efficiencies as judged by titration in a sensitive and accurate solid-phase immunofluorimetric assay. In another instance, the converse situation was observed: monoclonal antibodies having a reduced efficiency of binding to the HA of a variant virus nevertheless had comparable HI titres with the variant and with A/USSR/90/77. The chemical basis and epidemiological significance of these observations remain to be elucidated. Nevertheless, the finding that the reaction of monoclonal antibodies can, in some cases, be markedly dependent on the test system employed is of significance for the efficient design and correct interpretation of immunochemical studies which employ monoclonal antibodies to investigate the basis for variation in influenza strains.

Received 29 September 1980; accepted 13 January 1981.