H3N2-subtype influenza A viruses are major causes of seasonal influenza epidemics. Emerging H3N2 variants require the annual adjustment of the vaccine strain. Recently, studies addressing the reduced effectiveness of current H3N2 vaccines have identified production-related substitutions in the viral hemagglutinin antigen as a possible cause for reduced vaccine efficacy.
Keywords
- H3N2 subtype
- HA glycosylation
- influenza vaccine
- influenza virus