Comparison of antibody repertoires produced by HIV-1 infection, other chronic and acute infections, and systemic autoimmune disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Antibodies (Abs) produced during HIV-1 infection rarely neutralize a broad range of viral isolates; only eight broadly-neutralizing (bNt) monoclonal (M)Abs have been isolated. Yet, to be effective, an HIV-1 vaccine may have to elicit the essential features of these MAbs. The V genes of all of these bNt MAbs are highly somatically mutated, and the V(H) genes of five of them encode a long (≥ 20 aa) third complementarity-determining region (CDR-H3). This led us to question whether long CDR-H3s and high levels of somatic mutation (SM) are a preferred feature of anti-HIV bNt MAbs, or if other adaptive immune responses elicit them in general.

Methodology and principal findings

We assembled a V(H)-gene sequence database from over 700 human MAbs of known antigen specifici

SUBMITTER: Breden F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3068138 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature