Scientific Publications

Antibody subclasses exhibit extensive polymorphisms (allotypes) that could potentially impact the quality of HIV-vaccine induced B cell responses. Allotypes of immunoglobulin (Ig) G1, the most abundant serum antibody, have been shown to display altered functional properties in regard to serum half-life, Fc-receptor binding and FcRn-mediated mucosal transcytosis. To investigate the potential link between allotypic IgG1-variants and vaccine-generated humoral responses in a cohort of 14 HIV vaccine recipients, we developed a novel protocol for rapid IgG1-allotyping. We combined PCR and ELISA assays in a dual approach to determine the IgG1 allotype identity (G1m3 and/or G1m1) of trial participants, using human plasma and RNA isolated from PBMC. The IgG1-allotype distribution of our participants mirrored previously reported results for caucasoid populations. We observed elevated levels of HIV gp140-specific IgG1 and decreased IgG2 levels associated with the G1m1-allele, in contrast to G1m3 carriers. These data suggest that vaccinees homozygous for G1m1 are predisposed to develop elevated Ag-specific IgG1:IgG2 ratios compared to G1m3-carriers. This elevated IgG1:IgG2 ratio was further associated with higher FcγR-dimer engagement, a surrogate for potential antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) function. Although preliminary, these results suggest that IgG1 allotype may have a significant impact on IgG subclass distribution in response to vaccination and associated Fc-mediated effector functions. These results have important implications for ongoing HIV vaccine efficacy studies predicated on engagement of FcγR-mediated cellular functions including ADCC and ADCP, and warrant further investigation. Our novel allotyping protocol provides new tools to determine the potential impact of IgG1 allotypes on vaccine efficacy.

The aim of this study was to determine whether counselling provided subsequent to HIV testing and referral for care increases linkage to care among HIV-positive persons identified through home-based HIV counselling and testing (HBHCT) in Masaka, Uganda.

Understanding associations between pregnancy and HIV disease progression is critical to provide appropriate counseling and care to HIV-positive women.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have been considered to be potent therapeutic tools and potential vaccine candidates to enable protection against various clades of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The generation of bnAbs has been associated with enhanced exposure to antigen, high viral load and low CD4+ T cell counts, among other factors. However, only limited data are available on the generation of bnAbs in viraemic non-progressors that demonstrate moderate to high viraemia. Further, since HIV-1 subtype C viruses account for more than 50 % of global HIV infections, the identification of bnAbs with novel specificities is crucial to enable the development of potent tools to aid in HIV therapy and prevention. In the present study, we analysed and compared the neutralization potential of responses in 70 plasma samples isolated from ART-naïve HIV-1 subtype C-infected individuals with various disease progression profiles against a panel of 30 pseudoviruses. Among the seven samples that exhibited a neutralization breadth of ≥70 %, four were identified as 'elite neutralizers', and three of these were from viraemic non-progressors while the fourth was from a typical progressor. Analysis of the neutralization specificities revealed that none of the four elite neutralizers were reactive to epitopes in the membrane proximal external region (MPER), CD4-binding site and V1V2 or V3 glycan. However, two of the four elite neutralizers exhibited enhanced sensitivity towards viruses lacking N332 glycan, indicating high neutralization potency. Overall, our findings indicate that the identification of potent neutralization responses with distinct epitope specificities is possible from the as yet unexplored Indian population, which has a high prevalence of HIV-1 subtype C infection.

The RosettaCarbohydrate framework is a new tool for modeling a wide variety of saccharide and glycoconjugate structures. This report describes the development of the framework and highlights its applications. The framework integrates with established protocols within the Rosetta modeling and design suite, and it handles the vast complexity and variety of carbohydrate molecules, including branching and sugar modifications. To address challenges of sampling and scoring, RosettaCarbohydrate can sample glycosidic bonds, side-chain conformations, and ring forms, and it utilizes a glycan-specific term within its scoring function. Rosetta can work with standard PDB, GLYCAM, and GlycoWorkbench (.gws) file formats. Saccharide residue-specific chemical information is stored internally, permitting glycoengineering and design. Carbohydrate-specific applications described herein include virtual glycosylation, loop-modeling of carbohydrates, and docking of glyco-ligands to antibodies. Benchmarking data are presented and compared to other studies, demonstrating Rosetta's ability to predict glyco-ligand binding. The framework expands the tools available to glycoscientists and engineers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Select lectins have powerful anti-viral properties that effectively neutralize HIV-1 by targeting the dense glycan shield on the virus. Here, we reveal the mechanism by which one of the most potent lectins, BanLec, achieves its inhibition. We identify that BanLec recognizes a subset of high-mannose glycans via bidentate interactions spanning the two binding sites present on each BanLec monomer that were previously considered separate carbohydrate recognition domains. We show that both sites are required for high-affinity glycan binding and virus neutralization. Unexpectedly we find that BanLec adopts a tetrameric stoichiometry in solution whereby the glycan-binding sites are positioned to optimally target glycosylated viral spikes. The tetrameric architecture, together with bidentate binding to individual glycans, leads to layers of multivalency that drive viral neutralization through enhanced avidity effects. These structural insights will prove useful in engineering successful lectin therapeutics targeting the dense glycan shield of HIV.

Germline precursors and intermediates of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are essential to the understanding of humoral response to HIV-1 infection and B-cell lineage vaccine design. Using a native-like gp140 trimer probe, we examined antibody libraries constructed from donor-17, the source of glycan-dependent PGT121-class bNAbs recognizing the N332 supersite on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein. To facilitate this analysis, a digital panning method was devised that combines biopanning of phage-displayed antibody libraries, 900 bp long-read next-generation sequencing, and heavy/light (H/L)-paired antibodyomics. In addition to single-chain variable fragments resembling the wild-type bNAbs, digital panning identified variants of PGT124 (a member of the PGT121 class) with a unique insertion in the heavy chain complementarity-determining region 1, as well as intermediates of PGT124 exhibiting notable affinity for the native-like trimer and broad HIV-1 neutralization. In a competition assay, these bNAb intermediates could effectively compete with mouse sera induced by a scaffolded BG505 gp140.681 trimer for the N332 supersite. Our study thus reveals previously unrecognized lineage complexity of the PGT121-class bNAbs and provides an array of library-derived bNAb intermediates for evaluation of immunogens containing the N332 supersite. Digital panning may prove to be a valuable tool in future studies of bNAb diversity and lineage development.

Accurate HIV-1 incidence estimation is critical to the success of HIV-1 prevention strategies. Current assays are limited by high false recent rates (FRRs) in certain populations and a short mean duration of recent infection (MDRI). Dynamic early HIV-1 antibody response kinetics were harnessed to identify biomarkers for improved incidence assays. We conducted retrospective analyses on circulating antibodies from known recent and longstanding infections and evaluated binding and avidity measurements of Env and non-Env antigens and multiple antibody forms (i.e., IgG, IgA, IgG3, IgG4, dIgA, and IgM) in a diverse panel of 164 HIV-1-infected participants (clades A, B, C). Discriminant function analysis identified an optimal set of measurements that were subsequently evaluated in a 324-specimen blinded biomarker validation panel. These biomarkers included clade C gp140 IgG3, transmitted/founder clade C gp140 IgG4 avidity, clade B gp140 IgG4 avidity, and gp41 immunodominant region IgG avidity. MDRI was estimated at 215 day or alternatively, 267 days. FRRs in untreated and treated subjects were 5.0% and 3.6%, respectively. Thus, computational analysis of dynamic HIV-1 antibody isotype and antigen interactions during infection enabled design of a promising HIV-1 recency assay for improved cross-sectional incidence estimation.

: Understanding HIV-1 transmission dynamics is relevant to both screening and intervention strategies of HIV-1 infection. Commonly, HIV-1 transmission chains are determined based on sequence similarity assessed either directly from a sequence alignment or by inferring a phylogenetic tree. This review is aimed at both nonexperts interested in understanding and interpreting studies of HIV-1 transmission, and experts interested in finding the most appropriate cluster definition for a specific dataset and research question. We start by introducing the concepts and methodologies of how HIV-1 transmission clusters usually have been defined. We then present the results of a systematic review of 105 HIV-1 molecular epidemiology studies summarizing the most common methods and definitions in the literature. Finally, we offer our perspectives on how HIV-1 transmission clusters can be defined and provide some guidance based on examples from real life datasets.