Novel subtype C human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelopes cloned directly from plasma: coreceptor usage and neutralization phenotypes.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is classified into different phylogenetic subtypes, with subtype C representing more than half of the novel infections globally. However, there are relatively few subtype C envelopes available for study. We amplified 18 unique env genes from 13 patients who were infected with subtype C HIV-1 in six African countries and in Scotland to create replication-competent viruses.

Generation of a family-specific phage library of llama single chain antibody fragments that neutralize HIV-1.

Recently, we described llama antibody fragments (VHH) that can neutralize human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1). These VHH were obtained after selective elution of phages carrying an immune library raised against gp120 of HIV-1 subtype B/C CN54 with soluble CD4. We describe here a new, family-specific approach to obtain the largest possible diversity of related VHH that compete with soluble CD4 for binding to the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein.