Genetic drift evolution under vaccination pressure among H5N1 Egyptian isolates

The highly pathogenic H5N1 is a major avian pathogen that intensively affects the poultry industry in Egypt even in spite of the adoption of vaccination strategy. Antigenic drift is among the strategies the influenza virus uses to escape the immune system that might develop due to the pressure of extensive vaccination. H5N1 mutates in an intensified manner and is considered a potential candidate for the possible next pandemic with all the catastrophic consequences such an eventuality will entail.

H5N1 was isolated from the pooled organ samples of four different affected flocks in specific pathogen free embryonated chicken eggs (SPF-ECE). A reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to the haemagglutingin and neuraminidase. Sequencing of the full length haemagglutingin was performed. Sequence analyses of the isolated strains were performed and compared to all available H5N1 from Egyptian human and avian strains in the flu database. Changes in the different amino acid that may be related to virus virulence, receptor affinity and epitope configuration were assigned and matched with all available Egyptian strains in the flu database.

One out of the four strains was found to be related to the B2 Egyptian lineage, 2 were related to A1 lineage and the 4th was related to A2 lineage. Comparing data obtained from the current study by other available Egyptian H5N1 sequences remarkably demonstrates that amino acid changes in the immune escape variants are remarkably restricted to a limited number of locations on the HA molecule during antigenic drift. Molecular diversity in the HA gene, in relevance to different epitopes, were not found to follow a regular trend, suggesting abrupt cumulative sequence mutations. However a number of amino acids were found to be subjected to high mutation pressure.

The current data provides a comprehensive view of HA gene evolution among H5N1 subtype viruses in Egypt. Egyptian H5N1-AIVs are constantly undergoing genetic changes and reveal a complex pattern of drifts. These findings raise the concerns about the value of using influenza vaccines in correlation with the development of antigenic drift in influenza epidemics.