Immunoenzymatic Assay for the Diagnosis of Influenza a/H1n1 From Epitopes of Immunogenic Proteins

Abstract

The 2009 influenza A/H1N1 pandemic caused serious consequences in the human population, therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a vaccination strategy to protect people from the threat posed by this disease; however, studies show that the protection is not effective. The identification, selection and design of immunogenic epitopes of the virus may be an alternative to generate better protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus. In the present work, four epitopes designed by bioinformatics were selected from the most immunogenic proteins of the pandemic virus isolated in Mexico in 2009 and, by means of an enzymatic assay, the humoral response of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals against this virus was quantified. The results show that the peptides designed by bioinformatics are recognized by the antibodies of the individuals under study, so they could be used to design diagnostic methods against various strains of influenza.