Notable Recent Publications

These are some recent publications which give a flavour of the research from the Barclay lab. For a complete list of publications, please see below.

Species difference in ANP32A underlies influenza A virus polymerase host restriction. Nature (2016).
Jason S. Long, Efstathios S. Giotis, Olivier Moncorgé, Rebecca Frise, Bhakti Mistry, Joe James, Mireille Morisson, Munir Iqbal, Alain Vignal, Michael A. Skinner & Wendy S. Barclay

This paper identified a key factor that explained why the polymerases from avian influenza viruses are restricted in humans.  For more, please see the associated New and Views.

See our latest ANP32 papers here: eLIFE, Journal of Virology, Journal of Virology.

The mechanism of resistance to favipiravir in influenza. PNAS (2018).
Daniel H. Goldhill, Aartjan J. W. te Velthuis, Robert A. Fletcher, Pinky Langat, Maria Zambon, Angie Lackenby & Wendy S. Barclay

This paper showed how influenza could evolve resistance to favipiravir, an antiviral that may be used to treat influenza. The residue that mutated to give resistance was highly conserved suggesting that the mechanism of resistance may be applicable to other RNA viruses.

Internal genes of a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus determine high viral replication in myeloid cells and severe outcome of infection in mice. Plos Path. (2018).
Hui Li*, Konrad C. Bradley*, Jason S. Long, Rebecca Frise, Jonathan W. Ashcroft, Lorian C. Hartgroves, Holly Shelton, Spyridon Makris, Cecilia Johansson, Bin Cao & Wendy S. Barclay

Why do avian influenza viruses like H5N1 cause such severe disease in humans? This paper demonstrated that H5N1 viruses replicate better than human viruses in myeloid cells from mice leading to a cytokine storm and more severe disease.

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Peacock:2017:10.1128/JVI.00218-17,
author = {Peacock, TP and Benton, DJ and James, J and Sadeyen, J-R and Chang, P and Sealy, JE and Bryant, JE and Martin, SR and Shelton, H and Barclay, WS and Iqbal, M},
doi = {10.1128/JVI.00218-17},
journal = {Journal of Virology},
title = {Immune Escape Variants of H9N2 Influenza Viruses Containing Deletions at the Hemagglutinin Receptor Binding Site Retain Fitness In Vivo and Display Enhanced Zoonotic Characteristics},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00218-17},
volume = {91},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - H9N2 avian influenza viruses are enzootic in poultry across Asia and North Africa, where they pose a threat to human health as both zoonotic agents and potential pandemic candidates. Poultry vaccination against H9N2 viruses has been employed in many regions; however, vaccine effectiveness is frequently compromised due to antigenic drift arising from amino acid substitutions in the major influenza virus antigen hemagglutinin (HA). Using selection with HA-specific monoclonal antibodies, we previously identified H9N2 antibody escape mutants that contained deletions of amino acids in the 220 loop of the HA receptor binding sites (RBSs). Here we analyzed the impact of these deletions on virus zoonotic infection characteristics and fitness. We demonstrated that mutant viruses with RBS deletions are able to escape polyclonal antiserum binding and are able to infect and be transmitted between chickens. We showed that the deletion mutants have increased binding to human-like receptors and greater replication in primary human airway cells; however, the mutant HAs also displayed reduced pH and thermal stability. In summary, we infer that variant influenza viruses with deletions in the 220 loop could arise in the field due to immune selection pressure; however, due to reduced HA stability, we conclude that these viruses are unlikely to be transmitted from human to human by the airborne route, a prerequisite for pandemic emergence. Our findings underscore the complex interplay between antigenic drift and viral fitness for avian influenza viruses as well as the challenges of predicting which viral variants may pose the greatest threats for zoonotic and pandemic emergence.
AU  - Peacock,TP
AU  - Benton,DJ
AU  - James,J
AU  - Sadeyen,J-R
AU  - Chang,P
AU  - Sealy,JE
AU  - Bryant,JE
AU  - Martin,SR
AU  - Shelton,H
AU  - Barclay,WS
AU  - Iqbal,M
DO  - 10.1128/JVI.00218-17
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 1098-5514
TI  - Immune Escape Variants of H9N2 Influenza Viruses Containing Deletions at the Hemagglutinin Receptor Binding Site Retain Fitness In Vivo and Display Enhanced Zoonotic Characteristics
T2  - Journal of Virology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00218-17
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000405465700010&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/50642
VL  - 91
ER  -
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Contact us

For any enquiries related to this group, please contact:

Professor Wendy Barclay
Chair in Influenza Virology 
+44 (020) 7594 5035
w.barclay@imperial.ac.uk