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Design, display and immunogenicity of HIV1 gp120 fragment immunogens on virus-like particles. Vaccine 2018; 36:6345-6353. [PMID: 30220462 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.07.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The broadly neutralizing antibody against HIV-1, b12, binds to the CD4 binding site (CD4bs) on the outer domain (OD) of the gp120 subunit of HIV-1 Env. We have previously reported the design of an E. coli expressed fragment of HIV-1 gp120, b122a, containing about 70% of the b12 epitope with the idea of focusing the immune response to this structure. Since the b122a structure was found to be only partially folded, as assessed by circular dichroism and protease resistance, we attempted to stabilize it by the introduction of additional disulfide bonds. One such mutant, b122a1-b showed increased stability and bound b12 with 30-fold greater affinity as compared to b122a. Various b122a and OD fragment proteins were displayed on the surface of Qβ virus-like particles. Sera raised against these particles in six-month long rabbit immunization studies could neutralize Tier1 viruses across different subtypes with the best results observed with b122a1-b displayed particles. Significantly higher amounts of antibodies directed towards the CD4bs were also elicited by particles displaying b122a1-b. This study highlights the ability of fragment immunogens to focus the antibody response to the conserved CD4bs of HIV-1.
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Rathore U, Purwar M, Vignesh VS, Das R, Kumar AA, Bhattacharyya S, Arendt H, DeStefano J, Wilson A, Parks C, La Branche CC, Montefiori DC, Varadarajan R. Bacterially expressed HIV-1 gp120 outer-domain fragment immunogens with improved stability and affinity for CD4-binding site neutralizing antibodies. J Biol Chem 2018; 293:15002-15020. [PMID: 30093409 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra118.005006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Protein minimization is an attractive approach for designing vaccines against rapidly evolving pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1), because it can help in focusing the immune response toward conserved conformational epitopes present on complex targets. The outer domain (OD) of HIV-1 gp120 contains epitopes for a large number of neutralizing antibodies and therefore is a primary target for structure-based vaccine design. We have previously designed a bacterially expressed outer-domain immunogen (ODEC) that bound CD4-binding site (CD4bs) ligands with 3-12 μm affinity and elicited a modest neutralizing antibody response in rabbits. In this study, we have optimized ODEC using consensus sequence design, cyclic permutation, and structure-guided mutations to generate a number of variants with improved yields, biophysical properties, stabilities, and affinities (KD of 10-50 nm) for various CD4bs targeting broadly neutralizing antibodies, including the germline-reverted version of the broadly neutralizing antibody VRC01. In contrast to ODEC, the optimized immunogens elicited high anti-gp120 titers in rabbits as early as 6 weeks post-immunization, before any gp120 boost was given. Following two gp120 boosts, sera collected at week 22 showed cross-clade neutralization of tier 1 HIV-1 viruses. Using a number of different prime/boost combinations, we have identified a cyclically permuted OD fragment as the best priming immunogen, and a trimeric, cyclically permuted gp120 as the most suitable boosting molecule among the tested immunogens. This study also provides insights into some of the biophysical correlates of improved immunogenicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ujjwal Rathore
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012
| | - Mansi Purwar
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012
| | | | - Raksha Das
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012
| | - Aditya Arun Kumar
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012
| | - Sanchari Bhattacharyya
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012
| | - Heather Arendt
- the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Brooklyn, New York 11226, and
| | - Joanne DeStefano
- the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Brooklyn, New York 11226, and
| | - Aaron Wilson
- the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Brooklyn, New York 11226, and
| | - Christopher Parks
- the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Brooklyn, New York 11226, and
| | - Celia C La Branche
- the Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27707
| | - David C Montefiori
- the Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27707
| | - Raghavan Varadarajan
- From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 560012,
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