Rediscovering complement, the first barrier of innate immunity

Complement-dependent lysis of influenza a virus-infected cells by broadly cross-reactive human monoclonal antibodies

We characterized human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) cloned from influenza virus-infected patients and from influenza vaccine recipients by complement-dependent lysis (CDL) assay. Most MAbs active in CDL were neutralizing, but not all neutralizing MAbs can mediate CDL. Two of the three stalk-specific neutralizing MAbs tested were able to mediate CDL and were more cross-reactive to temporally distant H1N1 strains than the conventional hemagglutination-inhibiting and neutralizing MAbs. One of the stalk-specific MAbs was subtype cross-reactive to H1 and H2 hemagglutinins, suggesting a role for stalk-specific antibodies in protection against influenza illness, especially by a novel viral subtype which can cause pandemics.