• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Emergence of HA mutants during influenza virus pneumonia

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2012;5(8):787-95. Epub 2012 Oct 1.
Emergence of HA mutants during influenza virus pneumonia.
Manríquez ME, Makino A, Tanaka M, Abe Y, Yoshida H, Morioka I, Arakawa S, Takeshima Y, Iwata K, Takasaki J, Manabe T, Nakaya T, Nakamura S, Iglesias AL, Rossales RM, Mirabal EP, Ito T, Kitazawa T, Oka T, Yamashita M, Kudo K, Shinya K.
Source

National Institute of Respiratory Diseases Mexico City, Mexico.
Abstract

During the influenza pandemic of 2009, the number of viral pneumonia cases showed a marked increase in comparison with seasonal influenza viruses. Mutations at amino acid 222 (D222G mutations) in the virus hemagglutinin (HA) molecule, known to alter the receptor-recognition properties of the virus, were detected in a number of the more severely-affected patients in the early phases of the pandemic. To understand the background for the emergence of the mutant amino acid D222G in human lungs, we conducted histological examinations on lung specimens of patients from Mexico who had succumbed in the pandemic. Prominent regenerative and hyperplastic changes in the alveolar type II pneumocytes, which express avian-type sialoglycan receptors in the respiratory tract of severely affected individuals, were observed in the Mexican patients. An infection model utilizing guinea pigs, which was chosen in order to best simulate the sialic acid distribution of severe pneumonia in human patients, demonstrated an increase of D222G mutants and a delay in the diminution of mutants in the lower respiratory tract in comparison to the upper respiratory tract. Our data suggests that the predominance of avian-type sialoglycan receptors in the pneumonic lungs may contribute to the emergence of viral HA mutants. This data comprehensively illustrates the mechanisms for the emergence of mutants in the clinical samples.

PMID:
23071861
[PubMed - in process]
PMCID:
PMC3466977

Free PMC Article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23071861
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top Bottom