The conserved
hemagglutinin (HA) stem region of
avian influenza virus (AIV) is an important target for designing broad-spectrum
vaccines, therapeutic
antibodies and diagnostic
reagents. Previously, we obtained a
monoclonal antibody (mAb) (5D3-1B5) which was reactive with the HA stem
epitope (aa 428-452) of H7N9 subtype AIV. To systematically characterize the mAb, we determined the antibody titers, including the HA-binding
IgG, hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and virus neutralizing (VN) titers. In addition, the antigenic
epitope recognized by the antibody as well as the sequence and structure of the antibody variable region (VR) were also determined. Moreover, we evaluated the cross-reactivity of the antibody with influenza virus strains of different subtypes. The results showed that the 5D3-1B5 antibody had undetectable HI and VN activities against H7N9 virus, whereas it exhibited strong reactivity with the HA
protein. Using the
peptide-based
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay and biopanning with a phage-displayed
random peptide library, a motif with the core sequence (431W-433Y-437L) in the C-helix domain in the HA stem was identified as the
epitope recognized by 5D3-1B5. Moreover, the mAb failed to react with the mutant H7N9 virus which contains mutations in the
epitope. The VR of the antibody was sequenced and the
complementarity determining regions in the VR of the light and heavy chains were determined. Structural modeling and molecular docking analysis of the VR verified specific binding between the antibody and the C-helix domain of the HA stem. Notably, 5D3-1B5 showed a broad cross-reactivity with influenza virus strains of different subtypes belonging to groups 1 and 2. In conclusion, 5D3-1B5 antibody is a promising candidate in terms of the development of broad-spectrum virus diagnostic
reagents and therapeutic
antibodies. Our findings also provided new information for understanding the
epitope characteristics of the HA
protein of H7N9 subtype AIV.