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Parthasarathy D, Pothula KR, Dam KMA, Ratnapriya S, Benet HC, Parsons R, Huang X, Sammour S, Janowska K, Harris M, Sacco S, Sodroski J, Bridges MD, Hubbell WL, Acharya P, Herschhorn A. Conformational flexibility of HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins modulates transmitted / founder sensitivity to broadly neutralizing antibodies. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.13.557082. [PMID: 37745449 PMCID: PMC10515946 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.13.557082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Envs) mediate viral entry and are the sole target of neutralizing antibodies. Envs of most primary HIV-1 strains exist in a closed conformation and occasionally sample more open states. Thus, current knowledge guides immunogen design to mimic the closed Env conformation as the preferred target for eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) to block HIV-1 entry. Here we show that Env-preferred conformations of 6 out of 13 (46%) transmitted/founder (T/F) strains tested are incompletely closed. As a result, entry of these T/Fs into target cells is sensitive to antibodies that recognize internal epitopes exposed on open Env conformations. A cryo-electron microscopy structure of unliganded, incompletely closed T/F Envs (1059-SOSIP) at 3.6 Å resolution exhibits an asymmetric configuration of Env protomers with increased sampling of states with incompletely closed trimer apex. Double electron-electron resonance spectroscopy provided further evidence for enriched occupancy of more open Env conformations. Consistent with conformational flexibility, 1059 Envs were associated with resistance to most bnAbs that exhibit reduced potency against functional Env intermediates. To follow the fate of incompletely closed Env in patients, we reconstructed de novo the post-transmission evolutionary pathway of a second T/F Env (CH040), which is sensitive to the V3-targeting antibody 19b and highly resistant to most bnAbs. Evolved viruses exhibited increased resistance to cold, soluble CD4 and 19b, all of which correlate with closing of the adapted Env trimer. Lastly, we show a correlation between efficient neutralization of multiple Env conformations and increased antiviral breadth of CD4-binding site (CD4bs) bnAbs. In particular, N6 bnAb, which uniquely recognizes different Env conformations, efficiently neutralizes 50% of the HIV-1 strains that were resistant to VRC01 and transmitted during the first-in-humans antibody-mediated prevention trial (HVTN 704). VRC01-resistant Envs are incompletely closed based on their sensitivity to cold and on partial sensitivity to antibodies targeting internal, typically occluded, epitopes. Most VRC01-resistant Envs retain the VRC01 epitope according to VRC01 binding to their gp120 subunit at concentrations that have no significant effect on virus entry, and they exhibit cross resistance to other CD4bs bnAbs that poorly recognize functional Env intermediates. Our findings refine current knowledge of Env conformational states and provide guidance for developing new strategies for bnAb immunotherapy and Env-based immunogen design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Durgadevi Parthasarathy
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- These authors contributed equally: Durgadevi Parthasarathy and Karunakar Reddy Pothula
| | - Karunakar Reddy Pothula
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Durham, NC, USA
- These authors contributed equally: Durgadevi Parthasarathy and Karunakar Reddy Pothula
| | - Kim-Marie A. Dam
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Sneha Ratnapriya
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Héctor Cervera Benet
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | - Xiao Huang
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | | | - Miranda Harris
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Samuel Sacco
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
- Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Joseph Sodroski
- Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael D. Bridges
- Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Wayne L. Hubbell
- Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Priyamvada Acharya
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Surgery, and Department of Biochemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Alon Herschhorn
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology Graduate Program; The College of Veterinary Medicine Graduate Program; and the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Schapiro HM, Khasnis MD, Ahn K, Karagiaridi A, Hayden S, Cilento ME, Root MJ. Regulation of epitope exposure in the gp41 membrane-proximal external region through interactions at the apex of HIV-1 Env. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010531. [PMID: 35584191 PMCID: PMC9154124 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycoprotein Env of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mediates viral entry through membrane fusion. Composed of gp120 and gp41 subunits arranged as a trimer-of-heterodimers, Env adopts a metastable, highly dynamic conformation on the virion surface. This structural plasticity limits the temporospatial exposure of many highly conserved, neutralizing epitopes, contributing to the difficulty in developing effective HIV-1 vaccines. Here, we employed antibody neutralization of HIV-1 infectivity to investigate how inter- and intra-gp120 interactions mediated by variable loops V1/V2 and V3 at the Env apex regulate accessibility of the gp41 membrane-proximal external region (MPER) at the Env base. Swapping the V3 loop from EnvSF162 into the EnvHXB2 background shifted MPER exposure from the prefusogenic state to a functional intermediate conformation that was distinct from the prehairpin-intermediate state sensitive to gp41-targeted fusion inhibitors. The V3-loop swap had a profound impact on global protein dynamics, biasing the equilibrium to a closed conformation resistant to most anti-gp120 antibodies, stabilizing the protein to both cold- and soluble CD4-induced Env inactivation, and increasing the CD4 requirements for viral entry. Further dissection of the EnvHXB2 V3 loop revealed that residue 306 uniquely modulated epitope exposure and trimer stability. The R306S substitution substantially decreased sensitivity to antibodies targeting the gp41 MPER and, surprisingly, the gp120 V3-loop crown (residues 312–315), but had only modest effects on exposure of intervening gp120 epitopes. Furthermore, the point mutation reduced soluble CD4-induced inactivation, but had no impact on cold inactivation. The residue appeared to exert its effects by electrostatically modifying the strength of intra-subunit interactions between the V1/V2 and V3 loops. The distinct patterns of neutralization and stability pointed to a novel prefusogenic Env conformation along the receptor activation pathway and suggested that apical Env-regulation of gp41 MPER exposure can be decoupled from much of the dynamics of gp120 subunits. Surface glycoprotein Env is the main target for neutralizing antibodies elicited by HIV-1 vaccines. Env spontaneously fluctuates among different structures, limiting exposure of many attractive antibody-binding epitopes and, thereby, confounding vaccine development. To characterize these fluctuations, we examined how exposure of the MPER epitope found at the base of Env is regulated by interactions of the V3 loop located in the apex. Starting with an extremely flexible Env with a readily-exposed MPER, we identified two alterations that substantially restricted antibody access to the epitope. The first, a wholesale swap of V3 loops between HIV-1 strains, energetically stabilized Env in a closed structure that restricted access to antibodies throughout the protein. The second, a point mutation that altered V3-loop charge, specifically destabilized the MPER-exposed conformation but had minimal impact on antibody access to Env regions in between the apex and base. The results indicate that MPER exposure is not explicitly tied to the dynamics of Env regions between the apex and base and suggest a new structural fluctuation during Env activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah M. Schapiro
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Mukta D. Khasnis
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Koree Ahn
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Alexandra Karagiaridi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Stephanie Hayden
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Maria E. Cilento
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Michael J. Root
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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A Coreceptor-Mimetic Peptide Enhances the Potency of V3-Glycan Antibodies. J Virol 2019; 93:JVI.01653-18. [PMID: 30541842 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01653-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 12/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) target five major epitopes on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env). The most potent bNAbs have median half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values in the nanomolar range, and the broadest bNAbs neutralize up to 98% of HIV-1 strains. The engineered HIV-1 entry inhibitor eCD4-Ig has greater breadth than bNAbs and similar potency. eCD4-Ig is markedly more potent than CD4-Ig due to its C-terminal coreceptor-mimetic peptide. Here we investigated whether the coreceptor-mimetic peptide mim6 improved the potency of bNAbs with different epitopes. We observed that when mim6 was appended to the C terminus of the heavy chains of bNAbs, this sulfopeptide improved the potency of all classes of bNAbs against HIV-1 isolates that are sensitive to neutralization by the sulfopeptide alone. However, mim6 did not significantly enhance neutralization of other isolates when appended to most classes of bNAbs, with one exception. Specifically, mim6 improved the potency of bNAbs of the V3-glycan class, including PGT121, PGT122, PGT128, and 10-1074, by an average of 2-fold for all HIV-1 isolates assayed. Despite this difference, 10-1074 does not induce exposure of the coreceptor-binding site, and addition of mim6 to 10-1074 did not promote shedding of the gp120 subunit of Env. Mixtures of 10-1074 and an Fc domain fused to mim6 neutralized less efficiently than a 10-1074/mim6 fusion, indicating that mim6 enhances the avidity of this fusion. Our data show that mim6 can consistently improve the potency of V3-glycan antibodies and suggest that these antibodies bind in an orientation that facilitates mim6 association with Env.IMPORTANCE HIV-1 requires both the cellular receptor CD4 and a tyrosine-sulfated coreceptor to infect its target cells. CD4-Ig is a fusion of the HIV-1-binding domains of CD4 with an antibody Fc domain. Previous studies have demonstrated that the potency of CD4-Ig is markedly increased by appending a coreceptor-mimetic sulfopeptide to its C terminus. We investigated whether this coreceptor-mimetic peptide improves the potency of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) targeting five major epitopes on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env). We observed that inclusion of the sulfopeptide dramatically improved the potency of all bNAb classes against isolates with more-open Env structures, typically those that utilize the coreceptor CXCR4. In contrast, the sulfopeptide improved only V3-glycan antibodies when neutralizing primary isolates, on average by 2-fold. These studies improve the potency of one class of bNAbs, show that coreceptor-mimetic sulfopeptides enhance neutralization through distinct mechanisms, and provide insight for the design of novel multispecific entry inhibitors.
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Doi N, Yokoyama M, Koma T, Kotani O, Sato H, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Concomitant Enhancement of HIV-1 Replication Potential and Neutralization-Resistance in Concert With Three Adaptive Mutations in Env V1/C2/C4 Domains. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:2. [PMID: 30705669 PMCID: PMC6344430 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 Env protein functions in the entry process and is the target of neutralizing antibodies. Its intrinsically high mutation rate is certainly one of driving forces for persistence/survival in hosts. For optimal replication in various environments, HIV-1 Env must continue to adapt and evolve through balancing sometimes incompatible function, replication fitness, and neutralization sensitivity. We have previously reported that adapted viruses emerge in repeated and prolonged cultures of cells originally infected with a macaque-tropic HIV-1NL4-3 derivative. We have also shown that the adapted viral clones exhibit enhanced growth potentials both in macaque PBMCs and individuals, and that three single-amino acid mutations are present in their Env V1/C2/C4 domains. In this study, we investigated how lab-adapted and highly neutralization-sensitive HIV-1NL4-3 adapts its Env to macaque cells with strongly replication-restrictive nature for HIV-1. While a single and two mutations gave a significantly enhanced replication phenotype in a macaque cell line and also in human cell lines that stably express either human CD4 or macaque CD4, the virus simultaneously carrying the three adaptive mutations always grew best. Entry kinetics of parental and triple mutant viruses were similar, whereas the mutant was significantly more readily inhibited for its infectivity by soluble CD4 than parental virus. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations of the Env ectodomain (gp120 and gp41 ectodomain) bound with CD4 suggest that the three mutations increase binding affinity of Env for CD4 in solution. Thus, it is quite likely that the affinity for CD4 of the mutant Env is enhanced relative to the parental Env. Neutralization sensitivity of the triple mutant to CD4 binding site antibodies was not significantly different from that of parental virus, whereas the mutant exhibited a considerably higher resistance against neutralization by a CD4-induced epitope antibody and Env trimer-targeting V1/V2 antibodies. These results suggest that the three adaptive mutations cooperatively promote viral growth via increased CD4 affinity, and also that they enhance viral resistance to several neutralization antibodies by changing the Env-trimer conformation. In total, we have verified here an HIV-1 adaptation pathway in host cells and individuals involving Env derived from a lab-adapted and highly neutralization-sensitive clone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoya Doi
- Department of Microbiology, Tokushima University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Masaru Yokoyama
- Laboratory of Viral Genomics, Pathogen Genomics Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takaaki Koma
- Department of Microbiology, Tokushima University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Osamu Kotani
- Laboratory of Viral Genomics, Pathogen Genomics Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hironori Sato
- Laboratory of Viral Genomics, Pathogen Genomics Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Akio Adachi
- Department of Microbiology, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Masako Nomaguchi
- Department of Microbiology, Tokushima University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan
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