AEGiS-12IAC: Immunologically-defined subgroups within group M identified with human monoclonal antibodies to HIV-1.

12th International AIDS Conference

Geneva, Switzerland - June 28-July 3, 1998

Immunologically-defined subgroups within group M identified with human monoclonal antibodies to HIV-1.

Int Conf AIDS 1998 Jun 28-Jul 3; 12:15 (abstract no. 11164)

Zolla-Pazner S, Gorny MK, Williams C, Nyambi PN, Vancott TC, Nadas A;;; V.A. Medical Center, New York, NY 10010, USA.

BACKGROUND: Vaccine development would be facilitated by identifying shared antigens of the HIV-1 envelope that induce protective immune responses, and by identifying immunologically defined subgroups of HIV-1 ("immunotypes") which could be included in a polyvalent vaccine that would induce broad immunity. As a model for defining immunotypes, immunologic relationships were defined on the basis of the reactivity between monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and the V3 regions of 56 primary isolates from clades A-H and O.

METHODS: Twenty-one human anti-V3 mAbs, derived from subjects infected with clade B or E viruses, were tested in an ELISA binding assay against 56 V3 peptides representing sequences from 50 group M (clades A-H) and 6 group O HIV-1 viruses.

RESULTS: The anti-V3 mAbs exhibit extensive intra- and inter-clade cross-reactivity with the V3 peptides from group M but not group O viruses. To identify the V3 peptides which were antigenically related, the ELISA reactivity of 1050 mAb/V3 combinations were examined by multivariate cluster analysis. Seven immunotypes within group M were defined. Each immunotype contained V3 peptides derived from two or more clades, showing a lack of correlation between immunotypes and cladal groupings.

CONCLUSIONS: Shared epitopes within the V3 loop exist among clades A-H. When defined by the immunoreactivity between V3 peptides and human anti-V3 mAbs, 7 antigenically-related "immunotypes" were identified. Use of this method with mAbs to additional HIV-1 env epitopes should provide criteria of immunologic relatedness that may be more relevant for vaccine development than cladal groupings.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV-1, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Epitopes, Hominidae, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Amino Acid Sequence, Human, Animal, immunology, ICA12
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