Lack of identity in neutralizing and hemagglutination-inhibiting antibodies against influenza viruses.

There is an exponential linear relationship between the quantity of influenza virus neutralized and the quantity of immune serum employed in in ovo neutralization. The slope of the neutralization line is extremely steep. The concentration of neutralizing antibody can be measured with considerable precision in ovo if the constant virus-varying serum technique is utilized. The amounts of hemagglutination-inhibiting and neutralizing antibodies which are absorbed by a given quantity of influenza virus (PR8) were found to be predictable and the degree of reactivity of these two antibodies was shown to be directly related to the extent of immunization. It was demonstrated that there are marked discrepancies in correlation between antibody titers obtained by in vitro hemagglutination-inhibition and in vivo neutralization techniques and that neutralizing antibody is preferentially absorbed by a given quantity of virus. Inasmuch as the results were found not to be attributable to peculiarities of the techniques employed, it appears that the antibodies measured by hemagglutination-inhibition in vitro and by neutralization in vivo are not identical.