scholarly journals Susceptibility to Neutralization by Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies Generally Correlates with Infected Cell Binding for a Panel of Clade B HIV Reactivated from Latent Reservoirs

2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqin Ren ◽  
Maria Korom ◽  
Ronald Truong ◽  
Dora Chan ◽  
Szu-Han Huang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEfforts to cure human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are obstructed by reservoirs of latently infected CD4+T cells that can reestablish viremia. HIV-specific broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), defined by unusually wide neutralization breadths against globally diverse viruses, may contribute to the elimination of these reservoirs by binding to reactivated cells, thus targeting them for immune clearance. However, the relationship between neutralization of reservoir isolates and binding to corresponding infected primary CD4+T cells has not been determined. Thus, the extent to which neutralization breadths and potencies can be used to infer the corresponding parameters of infected cell binding is currently unknown. We assessed the breadths and potencies of bNAbs against 36 viruses reactivated from peripheral blood CD4+T cells from antiretroviral (ARV)-treated HIV-infected individuals by using paired neutralization and infected cell binding assays. Single-antibody breadths ranged from 0 to 64% for neutralization (80% inhibitory concentration [IC80] of ≤10 μg/ml) and from 0 to 89% for binding, with two-antibody combinations (results for antibody combinations are theoretical/predicted) reaching levels of 0 to 83% and 50 to 100%, respectively. Infected cell binding correlated with virus neutralization for 10 of 14 antibodies (e.g., for 3BNC117,r = 0.82 andP < 0.0001). Heterogeneity was observed, however, with a lack of significant correlation for 2G12, CAP256.VRC26.25, 2F5, and 4E10. Our results provide guidance on the selection of bNAbs for interventional cure studies, both by providing a direct assessment of intra- and interindividual variabilities in neutralization and infected cell binding in a novel cohort and by defining the relationships between these parameters for a panel of bNAbs.IMPORTANCEAlthough antiretroviral therapies have improved the lives of people who are living with HIV, they do not cure infection. Efforts are being directed towards harnessing the immune system to eliminate the virus that persists, potentially resulting in virus-free remission without medication. HIV-specific antibodies hold promise for such therapies owing to their ability to both prevent the infection of new cells (neutralization) and direct the killing of infected cells. We isolated 36 HIV strains from individuals whose virus was suppressed by medication and tested 14 different antibodies for neutralization of these viruses and for binding to cells infected with the same viruses (critical for engaging natural killer cells). For both neutralization and infected cell binding, we observed variation both between individuals and amongst different viruses within an individual. For most antibodies, neutralization activity correlated with infected cell binding. These data provide guidance on the selection of antibodies for clinical trials.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqin Ren ◽  
Maria Korom ◽  
Ronald Truong ◽  
Dora Chan ◽  
Szu-han Huang ◽  
...  

AbstractEfforts to HIV cure are obstructed by reservoirs of latently infected CD4+T-cells that can re-establish viremia. Broadly neutralizing HIV-specific antibodies (bNAbs), defined by unusually high neutralization breadths against globally diverse viruses, may contribute to the elimination of these reservoirs by binding to reactivated cells, targeting them for immune clearance. However, the relationship between neutralization of reservoir isolates and binding to corresponding infected primary CD4+T-cells has not been determined. Thus, the extent to which neutralization breadths and potencies can be used to infer the corresponding parameters of infected-cell binding is currently unknown. We assessed the breadths and potencies of bNAbs against 36 viruses reactivated from peripheral blood CD4+T-cells of ARV-treated HIV-infected individuals, using paired neutralization and infected-cell binding assays. Single antibody breadths ranged from 0–64% for neutralization (IC80≤10μg/ml) and 0–89% for binding, with two-antibody combinations reaching 0-83% and 50-100%, respectively. Infected-cell binding correlated with virus neutralization for 10 out of 14 antibodies (e.g. 3BNC117, r=0.87, p<0.0001). Heterogeneity was observed, however, with a lack of significant correlations for 2G12, CAP256.VRC26.25, 2F5, and 4E10. Our results provide guidance on the selection of bNAbs for interventional cure studies; both by providing a direct assessment of intra-and inter-individual variability in neutralization and infected cell binding in a novel cohort, and by defining the relationships between these parameters for a panel of bNAbs.ImportanceAlthough anti-retroviral therapies have improved the lives of people who are living with HIV, they do not cure infection. Efforts are being directed towards harnessing the immune system to eliminate the virus that persists, potentially resulting in virus-free remission without medication. HIV-specific antibodies hold promise for such therapies owing to their abilities to both prevent the infection of new cells (neutralization), and also to direct the killing of infected cells. We isolated 36 HIV strains from individuals whose virus was suppressed by medication, and tested 14 different antibodies for neutralization of these viruses and for binding to cells infected with the same viruses (critical for engaging natural killer cells). For both neutralization and infected-cell binding, we observed variation both between individuals, and amongst different viruses within an individual. For most antibodies, neutralization activity correlated with infected cell binding. These data provide guidance on the selection of antibodies for clinical trials.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Gao ◽  
Ayşe N. Ozantürk ◽  
Qiankun Wang ◽  
Gray H. Harlan ◽  
Aaron J. Schmitz ◽  
...  

The latent reservoir of HIV-1 is a major barrier for viral eradication. Potent HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNabs) have been used to prevent and treat HIV-1 infections in animal models and clinical trials. Combination of bNabs and latency-reversing agents (LRAs) is considered a promising approach for HIV-1 eradication. PCR-based assays that can rapidly and specifically measure singly spliced HIV-1 vpu/env mRNA are needed to evaluate the induction of the viral envelope production at the transcription level and bNab-mediated reservoir clearance. Here we reported a PCR-based method to accurately quantify the production of intracellular HIV-1 vpu/env mRNA. With the vpu/env assay, we determined the LRA combinations that could effectively induce vpu/env mRNA production in CD4+ T cells from ART-treated individuals. None of the tested LRAs were effective alone. A comparison between the quantitative viral outgrowth assay (Q-VOA) and the vpu/env assay showed that vpu/env mRNA production was closely associated with the reactivation of replication-competent HIV-1, suggesting that vpu/env mRNA was mainly produced by intact viruses. Finally, antibody-mediated in vitro killing in HIV-1-infected humanized mice demonstrated that the vpu/env assay could be used to measure the reduction of infected cells in tissues and was more accurate than the commonly used gag-based PCR assay which measured unspliced viral genomic RNA. In conclusion, the vpu/env assay allows convenient and accurate assessment of HIV-1 latency reversal and bNab-mediated therapeutic strategies. Importance HIV-1 persists in individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) due to the long-lived cellular reservoirs that contain dormant viruses. Recent discoveries of HIV-1-specific broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNabs) targeting HIV-1 Env protein rekindled the interest in antibody-mediated elimination of latent HIV-1. Latency-reversing agents (LRAs) together with HIV-1 bNabs is a possible strategy to clear residual viral reservoirs, which makes the evaluation of HIV-1 Env expression upon LRA treatment critical. We developed a PCR-based assay to quantify the production of intracellular HIV-1 vpu/env mRNA. Using patient CD4+ T cells, we found that induction of HIV-1 vpu/env mRNA required a combination of different LRAs. Using in vitro, ex vivo and humanized mouse models, we showed that the vpu/env assay could be used to measure antibody efficacy in clearing HIV-1 infection. These results suggest that the vpu/env assay can accurately evaluate HIV-1 reactivation and bNab-based therapeutic interventions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Fischer ◽  
Kimberly Nguyen ◽  
Patricia J. LiWang

ABSTRACT Griffithsin (Grft) is an antiviral lectin that has been shown to potently inhibit HIV-1 by binding high-mannose N-linked glycosylation sites on HIV-1 gp120. A key factor for Grft potency is glycosylation at N295 of gp120, which is directly adjacent to N332, a target glycan for an entire class of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). Here, we unify previous work on the importance of other glycans to Grft potency against HIV-1 and Grft’s role in mediating the conformational change of gp120 by mutating nearly every glycosylation site in gp120. In addition to a significant loss of Grft activity by the removal of glycosylation at N295, glycan absence at N332 or N448 was found to have moderate effects on Grft potency. Interestingly, in the absence of N295, Grft effectiveness could be improved by a mutation that results in the glycan at N448 shifting to N446, indicating that the importance of individual glycans may be related to their effect on glycosylation density. Grft’s ability to alter the structure of gp120, exposing the CD4 binding site, correlated with the presence of glycosylation at N295 only in clade B strains, not clade C strains. We further demonstrate that Grft can rescue the activity of the bNAbs PGT121 and PGT126 in the event of a loss or a shift of glycosylation at N332, where the bNAbs suffer a drastic loss of potency. Despite targeting the same region, Grft in combination with PGT121 and PGT126 produced additive effects. This indicates that Grft could be an important combinational therapeutic.


AIDS ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1249-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S Parsons ◽  
Danielle Rouleau ◽  
Jean-Pierre Routy ◽  
Roger LeBlanc ◽  
Michael D Grant ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Swanson ◽  
Brianna Rhodes ◽  
Avivah Wang ◽  
Shi-Mao Xia ◽  
Robert Parks ◽  
...  

SummaryElicitation of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) by an HIV vaccine will involve priming the immune system to activate antibody precursors, followed by boosting immunizations to select for antibodies with functional features required for neutralization breadth. The higher the number of mutations necessary for function, the more convoluted are the antibody developmental pathways. HIV bnAbs acquire a large number of somatic mutations, but not all mutations are functionally important. Here we identified a minimal subset of mutations sufficient for the function of the V3-glycan bnAb DH270.6. Using antibody library screening, candidate envelope immunogens that interacted with DH270.6-like antibodies containing this set of key mutations were identified and selected in vitro. Our results demonstrate that less complex B cell evolutionary pathways than those naturally observed exist for the induction of HIV bnAbs by vaccination, and establish rational approaches to identify boosting sequential envelope candidate immunogens.


Virology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 446 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gautam K. Sahu ◽  
Kaori Sango ◽  
Nithianandan Selliah ◽  
Qiangzhong Ma ◽  
Gail Skowron ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca T. Veenhuis ◽  
Caroline C. Garliss ◽  
Justin R. Bailey ◽  
Joel N. Blankson

HIV-specific CD8 T cells and broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) both contribute to the control of viremia, but in most cases, neither can completely suppress viral replication. To date, therapeutic vaccines have not been successful in eliciting HIV-specific CD8 T cell or bNAb responses that are capable of preventing long-term viral rebound upon ART cessation. These challenges suggest that a combinatorial approach that harnesses both bNAbs and CD8 T cell responses may be necessary for long term control of viral replication. In this study we demonstrate a synergistic interaction between CD8 T cells and bNAbs using an in vitro model. Our data suggest that this combinatorial approach is very effective at suppressing viral replication in vitro and should be considered in future therapeutic studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kuniholm ◽  
Elise Armstrong ◽  
Brandy Bernabe ◽  
Carolyn Coote ◽  
Anna Berenson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHIV-establishes a persistent proviral reservoir by integrating into the genome of infected host cells. Current antiretroviral treatments do not target this persistent population of proviruses which include latently infected cells that upon treatment interruption can be reactivated to contribute to HIV-1 rebound. Deep sequencing of persistent HIV proviruses has revealed that greater than 90% of integrated HIV genomes are defective and unable to produce infectious virions. We hypothesized that intragenic elements in the HIV genome support transcription of aberrant HIV-1 RNAs from defective proviruses that lack long terminal repeats (LTRs). Using an intact provirus detection assay, we observed that resting CD4+ T cells and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) are biased towards generating defective HIV-1 proviruses. Multiplex reverse transcription digital drop PCR identified Env and Nef transcripts which lacked 5’ untranslated regions (UTR) in acutely infected CD4+ T cells and MDMs indicating transcripts are generated that do not utilize the promoter within the LTR. 5’UTR-deficient Env transcripts were also identified in a cohort of people living with HIV (PLWH) on ART, suggesting that these aberrant RNAs are produced in vivo. Using 5’ rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), we mapped the start site of these transcripts within the Env gene. This region bound several cellular transcription factors and functioned as a transcriptional regulatory element that could support transcription and translation of downstream HIV-1 RNAs. These studies provide mechanistic insights into how defective HIV-1 proviruses are persistently expressed to potentially drive inflammation in PLWH.Author SummaryPeople living with HIV establish a persistent reservoir which includes latently infected cells that fuel viral rebound upon treatment interruption. However, the majority of HIV-1 genomes in these persistently infected cells are defective. Whether these defective HIV genomes are expressed and whether they contribute to HIV associated diseases including accelerated aging, neurodegenerative symptoms, and cardiovascular diseases are still outstanding questions. In this paper, we demonstrate that acute infection of macrophages and resting T cells is biased towards generating defective viruses which are expressed by DNA regulatory elements in the HIV genome. These studies describe an alternative mechanism for chronic expression of HIV genomes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document