Determination of the Binding Affinity of Virions of Pandemic Influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1N1pdm09) Virus for Fetuin and Mucin by the Competitive and Kinetic Methods

Abstract

Abstract—The affinity of binding of pandemic influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1N1pdm09) virus for fetuin and mucin was studied. Three methods based on the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the quantitative determination of receptor specificity of influenza virus strains were compared. These methods were competitive Dixon plot analysis in direct coordinates, a competitive method using the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀), and a kinetic method. It has been found that competitive methods significantly distort the result due to unspecific binding of competitive proteins, while the kinetic method prevents such an effect. In the future, it can be widely used to accurately measure the receptor specificity of the influenza virus with α2-3 and α2-6 type receptors.