Recognition of synthetic glycopeptides by HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies and their unmutated ancestors.

Current HIV-1 vaccines elicit strain-specific neutralizing antibodies. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (BnAbs) are not induced by current vaccines, but are found in plasma in ∼20% of HIV-1-infected individuals after several years of infection. One strategy for induction of unfavored antibody responses is to produce homogeneous immunogens that selectively express BnAb epitopes but minimally express dominant strain-specific epitopes.

Chemical synthesis of highly congested gp120 V1V2 N-glycopeptide antigens for potential HIV-1-directed vaccines.

Critical to the search for an effective HIV-1 vaccine is the development of immunogens capable of inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies (BnAbs). A key first step in this process is to design immunogens that can be recognized by known BnAbs. The monoclonal antibody PG9 is a BnAb that neutralizes diverse strains of HIV-1 by targeting a conserved carbohydrate-protein epitope in the variable 1 and 2 (V1V2) region of the viral envelope.

Antigenicity and immunogenicity of transmitted/founder, consensus, and chronic envelope glycoproteins of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine development requires selection of appropriate envelope (Env) immunogens. Twenty HIV-1 Env glycoproteins were examined for their ability to bind human anti-HIV-1 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and then used as immunogens in guinea pigs to identify promising immunogens. These included five Envs derived from chronically infected individuals, each representing one of five common clades and eight consensus Envs based on these five clades, as well as the consensus of the entire HIV-1 M group, and seven transmitted/founder (T/F) Envs from clades B and C.