Glycan receptor specificity as a useful tool for characterization and surveillance of influenza A virus

• Main Authors: Raman, Rahul (Contributor), Tharakaraman, Kannan (Contributor), Jayaraman, Akila (Contributor), Sasisekharan, Ram (Contributor), Shriver, Zachary H. (Contributor), Sasisekharan, Viswanathan (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. School of Engineering (Contributor), Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier, 2015-11-16T12:48:37Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Influenza A viruses are rapidly evolving pathogens with the potential for novel strains to emerge and result in pandemic outbreaks in humans. Some avian-adapted subtypes have acquired the ability to bind to human glycan receptors and cause severe infections in humans but have yet to adapt to and transmit between humans. The emergence of new avian strains and their ability to infect humans has confounded their distinction from circulating human virus strains through linking receptor specificity to human adaptation. Herein we review the various structural and biochemical analyses of influenza hemagglutinin-glycan receptor interactions. We provide our perspectives on how receptor specificity can be used to monitor evolution of the virus to adapt to human hosts so as to facilitate improved surveillance and pandemic preparedness.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Merit Award R37 GM057073-13)
Singapore. National Research Foundation (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology)
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology