We have generated replication-deficient influenza HA and NA pseudotyped particles for several influena A strains. These influenza pseudoviruses are lentivirus-based and/or MLV-based.
These flu pseudoviruses may be used for:
1) studying the interactions between HA proteins and the host cell receptor(s) in specific conditions;
2) validating the candidates that blocks the interaction between HA proteins and the host cell receptor(s);
3) screening convalescent serum samples for neutralizing antibodies, etc.
Below is an example of testing an antibody in a neutralization assay using some of our H5N1 influenza pseudoviruses:
Figure 1. Neutralization assay results. The antibody tested was known to neutralize the TK2005/H5N1 strain and the TL2004/H5N1 strain.
The assay results show that this antibody neutralized both our A/TK2005/H5N1 pseudovirus and A/Thailand 2004/H5N1 pseudovirus, demonstrating a neutralization effect comparable to that observed with the two corresponding real viruses.