[A possible association of fatal pneumonia with mutations of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 sw1 virus in the receptor-binding site of the HA1 subunit]

Vopr Virusol. 2010 Jul-Aug;55(4):4-9.
[Article in Russian]

Abstract

The paper gives the results of sequence analysis of 150 positive samples in real-time RT-PCR, including 47 autopsy materials from patients (including 10 pregnant women), who died from fatal pneumonia mainly in November-December 2009, in whom the lifetime etiological diagnosis had not been made and hence no early etiotropic therapy performed. 70% of the primary materials from the deceased patients were found to have pandemic influenza A(H1N1) v mutants in the lung tissue with D222G (15%), D222N (15%), D222E (2%) substitutions, as well as a mixture of mutants (38%). Nasopharyngeal lavages from 3 Chukotka deceased patients exhibited only consensus (nonmutant) D222 virus variants; there was a mixture of consensus and mutant virus variants in the trachea and a mixture of mutant ones in the lung. Preliminary data from the study of the interaction of the hemagglutinin of two strains having D222G and D222N mutations with 9 oligosaccharides imitating the variants of cell receptors for influenza A virus suggest that there is a double receptor specificity for alpha2'-3' and alpha2'-6'-sialosides with a preponderance of alpha2'-3'-specificity. Further spread of the mutants that have acquired a high virulence and preserved their capacity for the respiratory route of human infection may lead to the situation similar to that seen in the 1918-1919 pandemic. Another scenario for evolution of the virus is to preserve its receptor specificity for alpha2'-3'-sialosides and high virulence with losses of alpha2'-6' specificity and capacity for aerosol transmission, by damping the pandemic.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Binding Sites / genetics
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Female
  • Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / genetics*
  • Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / genetics*
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / pathogenicity
  • Influenza, Human / epidemiology*
  • Influenza, Human / mortality
  • Influenza, Human / virology*
  • Lung / virology
  • Male
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / epidemiology*
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / mortality
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / virology*
  • Protein Subunits / genetics*
  • Protein Subunits / metabolism
  • Receptors, Virus / metabolism
  • Russia / epidemiology
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus
  • Protein Subunits
  • Receptors, Virus