BACKGROUND Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) causes a highly contagious often fatal disease in poultry, resulting in significant economic losses in the poultry industry. HPAIV H5N1 also poses a major public health threat as it can be transmitted directly from infected poultry to humans. One effective way to combat avian influenza with pandemic potential is through the vaccination ...

Recombinant subunit vaccines are an efficient strategy to meet the demands of a possible influenza pandemic, because of rapid and scalable production. However, vaccines made from recombinant Hemagglutinin (HA) subunit protein are often of low potency, requiring repeated boosting to generate a sustained immune response. Previously, we demonstrated improved immunogenicity of a plant-made H1 Hemag...

There is an urgent need for a rapid diagnostic system to detect the H5 subtype of the influenza A virus. We previously developed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the H5 hemagglutinin (HA) for use in a rapid diagnostic kit. In this study, we determined the epitopes of the anti-H5 HA murine mAbs OM-b, AY-2C2, and YH-1A1. Binding assays of the mAbs to different strains of H5 HAs indicated that...

The location of histone H5 on nucleosomes has been determined by binding anti-H5 antibodies to dinucleosomes, and recording the position of the bound IgG molecules using electron microscopy. Two types of antibody were employed, a total IgG fraction prepared from rabbits immunized with H5/RNA, which reacted to all three domains (NH2-terminal, central globular, and COOH-terminal) of H5, and an im...

We used an in vitro nuclear runoff replication assay to analyze the direction of replication of the active and inactive histone H5 genes in avian cells. In embryonic erythrocytes the transcribed histone H5 gene displayed sensitivity to endogenous nuclease cleavage. In contrast, this gene was insensitive to endogenous nuclease digestion under the same conditions in nuclei of the lymphoblastoid c...

The control of coagulation enzymes by antithrombin is vital for maintenance of normal hemostasis. Antithrombin requires the co-factor, heparin, to efficiently inhibit target proteinases. A specific pentasaccharide sequence (H5) in high affinity heparin induces a conformational change in antithrombin that is particularly important for factor Xa (fXa) inhibition. Thus, synthetic H5 accelerates th...

BACKGROUND Numerous Asian cases of avian influenza virus infection, especially the highly pathogenic strain H5N1, in humans have raised the concern that another influenza pandemic is close. However, there are no effective therapeutic drugs or preventative vaccines available. Hemagglutinin is the membrane glycoprotein of avian influenza virus responsible for receptor binding to human cells and t...

Rapid and differential diagnosis of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) subtype H5 is essential for the effective prevention and control of outbreaks caused by this pathogen. In this study, we describe a one-step multiplex real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (mRRT-PCR), using H5-, N1-, and N8-specific primers and probes, for differential detection of two HPAIVs...

The [H5]phenylalanine model was compared with the [1-C]leucine method to determine whole body protein synthesis (WBPS) and degradation (WBPD) in sheep fed at two levels. The animals were fed either 103 (M-diet) or 151 (H-diet) kcal ME/kg/day once daily in a crossover design for 21 days each. The isotope dilutions were simultaneously conducted as a primedcontinuous infusion of [H5]phenylalanine,...