Near real-time data on the human neutralizing antibody landscape to influenza virus in summer of 2026 and the G155E mutation
Today we posted a preprint describing work led by Caroline Kikawa and Andrew Butler using sequencing-based neutralization assays to characterize the human neutralizing antibody landscape to influenza virus. Our results underscore the impact of the H1N1 HA mutation G155E on a subset of the human population.
This preprint is the third installation in our efforts to use sequencing-based neutralization assays to characterize the human neutralization antibody landscape in near real time to inform vaccine strain selection.
We found that certain strains had reduced neutralization by human sera, with the most profound effect that the G155E mutation in H1N1 HA reduced neutralization especially by sera from younger individuals.
For summaries of the study, see:
- Bluesky thread, more easily read in threaded form here
- X thread
- Slides presented at the Options for Control of Influenza meeting
See https://jbloomlab.github.io/flu-seqneut-2026/summary.html for an interactive summary of the results and links to all raw data.
Postscript
A finding of our study was that the emerging G155E mutation in H1N1 caused a strong reduction in neutralization especially among young adults.
So far (as of October 2026), it appears to be an early H1N1 dominated season with a lot of H1N1, see: