Mapping a region of hepatitis C virus E2 that is responsible for escape from neutralizing antibodies and a core CD81-binding region that does not tolerate neutralization escape mutations.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the interaction between broadly neutralizing antibodies and their epitopes provides a basis for the rational design of a preventive hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine. CBH-2, HC-11, and HC-1 are representatives of antibodies to overlapping epitopes on E2 that mediate neutralization by blocking virus binding to CD81. To obtain insights into escape mechanisms, infectious cell culture virus, 2a HCVcc, was propagated under increasing concentrations of a neutralizing antibody to isolate escape mutants. Three escape patterns were observed with these antibodies. First, CBH-2 escape mutants that contained mutations at D431G or A439E, which did not compromise viral fitness, were isolated. Second, under the selective pressure of HC-11, escape mutations progressed from a single L438F subst

SUBMITTER: Keck ZY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3187491 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature