A Panel of Human Monoclonal Antibodies for Tracking the Antigenic Evolution of Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b

A panel of 19 human monoclonal antibodies neutralizes clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 and maps five partially overlapping antigenic regions on H5 hemagglutinin.

• Why it matters: Rapid antigenic evolution in the clade 2.3.4.4b panzootic creates a need to interpret emerging HA mutations across different host-associated viral genotypes.
• What they did: The authors generated 19 monoclonal antibodies, then used neutralization profiling and structural analyses to define antibody breadth and escape patterns, and expanded this into a 32-mAb reference panel.
• The result: Using the 32-mAb panel, antibody-defined antigenic differences were identified among recent human isolates between cattle-associated B3.13 and poultry-associated D1.1 genotypes, enabling epitope-resolved monitoring of circulating H5 viruses.

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