A Broadly Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibody That Recognizes a Conserved, Novel Epitope on the Globular Head of the Influenza H1N1 Virus Hemagglutinin

The conserved influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) stem domain elicits cross-reactive antibodies, but epitopes in the globular head typically elicit strain-specific responses because of the hypervariability of this region. We isolated human monoclonal antibody 5J8, which neutralized a broad spectrum of 20th century H1N1 viruses and the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus. Fine mapping of the interaction unexpectedly revealed a novel epitope between the receptor-binding pocket and the Ca(2) antigenic site on HA. This antibody exposes a new mechanism underlying broad immunity against H1N1 influenza viruses and identifies a conserved epitope that might be incorporated into engineered H1 virus vaccines.