Most traditional vaccines generate antibodies against
the hemagglutinin head.
So after infection, the biggest share of antibodies flocks to
the hemagglutinin head.
Other researchers have stabilized the stalk by attaching a new
hemagglutinin head — a lollipop flavor that the human immune system has never tasted.
Another approach incorporates proteins that don't tend to mutate like
the hemagglutinin head but are hidden from the immune system under normal circumstances.
Not exact matches
The
hemagglutinin protein, which blankets the outside of the flu virus, looks a bit like a flower; it has a stalk (think stem) and a
head (think petals).
Vaccines mainly provoke antibodies that target the
hemagglutinin's
head.
Unlike antibodies elicited by annual influenza vaccinations, most neutralizing antibodies induced by pandemic H1N1 infection were broadly cross-reactive against epitopes in the
hemagglutinin (HA) stalk and
head domain of multiple influenza strains.
Some background: the
head region of the flu virusâ $ ™ s mushroom - like
hemagglutinin protein is more variable, and more exposed to the immune system, while the stem / stalk region is less variable.