A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (California, USA), together with colleagues from other institutions, have just published in the journal Science new clues about H1N1, the virus responsible for influenza A.
Studying the anchor protein of the pandemic viruses of 1918 and 2009, they have verified that the human antibodies generated to defend ourselves against viruses protect in the same way against both . Looking in more detail, the researchers discovered that the two viruses share a nearly identical portion called the epitope, which acts as a tag that an antibody binds to. "We did not expect that these same antibodies could be produced against viruses that existed so far apart in time," acknowledged Gary Nabel of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a co-author of the study.
The finding could explain why older people , especially those over 65 who were exposed to the other virus in 1918, have pre-existing immunity to the 2009 H1N1 virus . In addition, it could help develop a vaccine capable of curbing future influenza epidemics.
