In a paper published in today's edition of the journal Science, the team of scientists from the United States and Europe describe their work quantifying and visualizing the antigenic and genetic evolution of the influenza A (H3N2) virus from its initial introduction into humans in 1968 up to 2003. The study resulted in a map that shows the virus evolved as a series of 11 closely related virus clusters as it has sought to elude human immunity over the decades.
The mapping method will allow researchers involved in vaccine development and viral surveillance programs for influenza, and potentially for other pathogens such as Hepatitis C and HIV as well, to quantify and visualize the evolution of these viruses. It can assist in monitoring antigenic differences among vaccine and circulating viral strains, and can help in quantifying the effects of vaccination. The approach also offers a route for predicting the relative infection success of emerging virus strains.
According to Los Alamos computational biologist Alan Lapedes, "This collaboration was particularly exciting because it involved close interaction between experts in computation and virology and medicine. Once we had created the map, we tested its reliability by making hundreds
of predictions of how well certain strains might match up and then conducting laboratory tests to check the predictions.
It's very gratifying that this basic research also
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Contact: Todd Hanson
tahanson@lanl.gov
505-665-2085
DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
20-Jul-2004