Antigenic variability in Neuraminidase protein of Influenza A/H3N2 vaccine strains (1968 – 2009)

Antigenic drift and shift involving the surface proteins of Influenza virus gave rise to new strains that caused epidemics affecting millions of people worldwide over the last hundred years. Variations in the membrane proteins like Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA) necessitates new vaccine strains to be updated frequently and poses challenge to effective vaccine design. Though the HA protein, the primary target of the human immune system, has been well studied, reports on the antigenic variability in the other membrane protein NA are sparse. In this paper we investigate the molecular basis of antigenic drift in the NA protein of the Influenza A/H3N2 vaccine strains between 1968 and 2009 and proceed to establish correlation between antigenic drift and antigen-antibody interactions. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic analyses were carried out and the antigenic variability was evaluated in terms of antigenic distance. To study the effects of antigenic drift on the protein structures, 3D structure of NA from various strains were predicted. Also, rigid body docking protocol has been used to study the interactions between these NA proteins and antibody Mem5, a 1998 antibody.