Ancestral sequences from an elite neutralizer proximal to the development of neutralization resistance as a potential source of HIV vaccine immunogens.

ABSTRACT: A major challenge in HIV vaccine development is the identification of immunogens able to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). While remarkable progress has been made in the isolation and characterization of bNAbs, the epitopes they recognize appear to be poorly immunogenic. Thus, none of the candidate vaccines developed to date has induced satisfactory levels of neutralizing antibodies to the HIV envelope protein (Env). One approach to the problem of poor immunogenicity is to build vaccines based on envelope (env) genes retrieved from rare individuals termed elite neutralizers (ENs) who at one time possessed specific sequences that stimulated the formation of bNAbs. Env proteins selected from these individuals could possess uncommon, yet to be defined, structural features that e

SUBMITTER: Mesa KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6457492 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature