A Single Mutation at Position 214 of Influenza B Hemagglutinin Enhances Cross-neutralization

Overview

Journal Emerg Microbes Infect

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2025 Feb 17

PMID 39960410

Authors

Ziqi Cheng

Yeqing Sun

Yanru Shen

Xi Wu

Ling Pan

Hao Wu

Yunbo Bai

Chenyan Zhao

Junfeng Ma

Weijin Huang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

High variability of influenza B virus (IBV) hemagglutinin (HA) impairs the cross- neutralization ability of vaccines, leading to reduce efficacy. We identified significant differences in cross-neutralization between IBV strains B/Wyoming/06/2014 and B/Brisbane/60/2008, which differ in only three amino acid residues. The 214 T point mutation was found to dramatically enhance cross-neutralization (>10-fold). Antibody-based reverse validation also revealed that this mutation significantly increased the neutralization capacity (500-62,500-fold). Furthermore, monitoring revealed that the mutation rate at this site has reached its highest level in nearly 20 years, with a prevalence exceeding 80% in sequences submitted from certain regions. Our findings provide new evidence for the selection of vaccine strains with improved cross- neutralization effects, which will aid the development of broad-spectrum vaccines by modifying minimal antigenic epitopes.

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