Rapid development of glycan-specific, broad, and potent anti–HIV-1 gp120 neutralizing antibodies in an R5 SIV/HIV chimeric virus infected macaque

LM Walker, D Sok, Y Nishimura… - Proceedings of the …, 2011 - National Acad Sciences
LM Walker, D Sok, Y Nishimura, O Donau, R Sadjadpour, R Gautam, M Shingai, R Pejchal…
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011National Acad Sciences
It is widely believed that the induction of a broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) response
will be a critical component of a successful vaccine against HIV. A significant fraction of HIV-
infected individuals mount bNAb responses, providing support for the notion that such
responses could be elicited through vaccination. Infection of macaques with simian
immunodeficiency virus (SIV) or SIV/HIV chimeric virus (SHIV) has been widely used to
model aspects of HIV infection, but to date, only limited bNAb responses have been …
It is widely believed that the induction of a broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) response will be a critical component of a successful vaccine against HIV. A significant fraction of HIV-infected individuals mount bNAb responses, providing support for the notion that such responses could be elicited through vaccination. Infection of macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) or SIV/HIV chimeric virus (SHIV) has been widely used to model aspects of HIV infection, but to date, only limited bNAb responses have been described. Here, we screened plasma from 14 R5-tropic SHIV-infected macaques for broadly neutralizing activity and identified a macaque with highly potent cross-clade plasma NAb response. Longitudinal studies showed that the development of broad and autologous NAb responses occurred coincidentally in this animal. Serum-mapping studies, using pseudovirus point mutants and antigen adsorption assays, indicated that the plasma bNAbs are specific for epitopes that include carbohydrates and are critically dependent on the glycan at position 332 of Env gp120. The results described herein provide insight into the development and evolution of a broad response, suggest that certain bNAb specificities may be more rapidly induced by immunization than others, and provide a potential model for the facile study of the development of bNAb responses.
National Acad Sciences