Differential Antibody Responses to Conserved HIV-1 Neutralizing Epitopes in the Context of Multivalent Scaffolds and Native-Like gp140 Trimers.

ABSTRACT: Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) have provided valuable insights into the humoral immune response to HIV-1. While rationally designed epitope scaffolds and well-folded gp140 trimers have been proposed as vaccine antigens, a comparative understanding of their antibody responses has not yet been established. In this study, we probed antibody responses to the N332 supersite and the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) in the context of heterologous protein scaffolds and native-like gp140 trimers. Ferritin nanoparticles and fragment crystallizable (Fc) regions were utilized as multivalent carriers to display scaffold antigens with grafted N332 and MPER epitopes, respectively. Trimeric scaffolds were also identified to stabilize the MPER-containing BG505 gp140.681 trimer in a native-

SUBMITTER: Morris CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5347340 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature