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. 1958 Jun 1;107(6):845–855. doi: 10.1084/jem.107.6.845

ANTIGENIC VARIANTS OF INFLUENZA A VIRUS (PR8 STRAIN)

IV. SEROLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A SECOND LINE OF VARIANTS DEVELOPED IN MICE GIVEN POLYVALENT VACCINE

Dorothy Hamre 1, Clayton G Loosli 1, Paul Gerber 1
PMCID: PMC2136860  PMID: 13539309

Abstract

A second series of four variants of PR8-S virus has been produced by passage of the variants in the lungs of mice immunized with the PR8-S virus as well as the homologous strain. The PR8-S virus was added as a constant component of the vaccine so that a high antibody titer to it would suppress selectively the development of variants with PR8-S characteristics. Comparative H.I. and in ovo neutralization tests with the first and second series of variants revealed that the three variants, Fd/s, Gf/s, and Hg/s, of the second series, failed to react with PR8-S antisera and produced significantly smaller amounts of antibody which reacted with PR8-S, the variants of the first series, and the first variant (D/s) of the second series. Although these three variants reacted quite similarly in the H.I. and neutralization tests cross-absorption of these sera with the PR8-S virus and themselves revealed individual antigenic characteristics. While these studies emphasize the importance of the immune state of the host the precise mechanism in the selection of a new antigenic component in the emerging variant must yet be determined.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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