Fitness landscape of the human immunodeficiency virus envelope protein that is targeted by antibodies.

ABSTRACT: HIV is a highly mutable virus, and over 30 years after its discovery, a vaccine or cure is still not available. The isolation of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) from HIV-infected patients has led to renewed hope for a prophylactic vaccine capable of combating the scourge of HIV. A major challenge is the design of immunogens and vaccination protocols that can elicit bnAbs that target regions of the virus's spike proteins where the likelihood of mutational escape is low due to the high fitness cost of mutations. Related challenges include the choice of combinations of bnAbs for therapy. An accurate representation of viral fitness as a function of its protein sequences (a fitness landscape), with explicit accounting of the effects of coupling between mutations, could help address thes

SUBMITTER: Louie RHY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5789945 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature