title: Epitope analysis for influenza vaccine design.
abstract: Until now, design of the annual influenza vaccine has relied on phylogenetic or whole-sequence comparisons of the viral coat proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, with vaccine effectiveness assumed to correlate monotonically to the vaccine-influenza sequence difference. We use a theory from statistical mechanics to quantify the non-monotonic immune response that results from antigenic drift in the epitopes of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins. The results explain the ineffectiveness of the 2003-2004 influenza vaccine in the United States and provide an accurate measure by which to optimize the effectiveness of future annual influenza vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
authors.forename: Enrique T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Deem
mesh_terms: D015195:Drug Design; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D007252:Influenza Vaccines