PLoS Pathogens (Aug 2020)

Mapping the immunogenic landscape of near-native HIV-1 envelope trimers in non-human primates.

  • Christopher A Cottrell,
  • Jelle van Schooten,
  • Charles A Bowman,
  • Meng Yuan,
  • David Oyen,
  • Mia Shin,
  • Robert Morpurgo,
  • Patricia van der Woude,
  • Mariëlle van Breemen,
  • Jonathan L Torres,
  • Raj Patel,
  • Justin Gross,
  • Leigh M Sewall,
  • Jeffrey Copps,
  • Gabriel Ozorowski,
  • Bartek Nogal,
  • Devin Sok,
  • Eva G Rakasz,
  • Celia Labranche,
  • Vladimir Vigdorovich,
  • Scott Christley,
  • Diane G Carnathan,
  • D Noah Sather,
  • David Montefiori,
  • Guido Silvestri,
  • Dennis R Burton,
  • John P Moore,
  • Ian A Wilson,
  • Rogier W Sanders,
  • Andrew B Ward,
  • Marit J van Gils

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008753
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 8
p. e1008753

Abstract

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The induction of broad and potent immunity by vaccines is the key focus of research efforts aimed at protecting against HIV-1 infection. Soluble native-like HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins have shown promise as vaccine candidates as they can induce potent autologous neutralizing responses in rabbits and non-human primates. In this study, monoclonal antibodies were isolated and characterized from rhesus macaques immunized with the BG505 SOSIP.664 trimer to better understand vaccine-induced antibody responses. Our studies reveal a diverse landscape of antibodies recognizing immunodominant strain-specific epitopes and non-neutralizing neo-epitopes. Additionally, we isolated a subset of mAbs against an epitope cluster at the gp120-gp41 interface that recognize the highly conserved fusion peptide and the glycan at position 88 and have characteristics akin to several human-derived broadly neutralizing antibodies.