The expression of the Sda as a potential regulator of influenza virus infection in different animal species

Abstract

Influenza is a highly pathogenic disease. There are three genera of influenza virus, type A, B and C. Influenza A can lead to an increasing epidemic respiratory disease and has been the most studied subtype. According to CDC (2015), there are 5% to 20% of the U.S. residents infected with influenza every year; 3,000 to 49,000 people died from the disease during the two seasons of 1976-1977 and 2006-2007. In 2015, there are 3,697 of deaths which is 1.2 deaths per 100,000 populations associated with the influenza virus infection.

Some virus strains undergo antigenic drift and shift in the virus surface protein hemagglutinin and neuraminidase which can lead to a new generation of influenza epidemic. The influenza virus strains have crossed the species barrier and bind to host receptors with different sialyloligosaccharides sequence. The Sda epitope carries α2–3 linkage which preferentially binding with the avian influenza virus strain. The presence of the Sda epitope in different animal species may become a crucial factor in the selection of receptor specificity of influenza virus and a potential regulator in viral binding.

The objective of this dissertation was to detect the expression of Sda in different animal tissue with immunohistochemistry. The monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies were used for labelling the target glycomic structure. This histopathological findings and the viral tropism helped to understand the pathogenesis of influenza virus.