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Carrasco-Hernández R, Valenzuela-Ponce H, Soto-Nava M, García-Morales C, Matías-Florentino M, Wertheim JO, Smith DM, Reyes-Terán G, Ávila-Ríos S. Unveiling ecological/evolutionary insights in HIV viral load dynamics: Allowing random slopes to observe correlational changes to CpG-contents and other molecular and clinical predictors. Epidemics 2024; 47:100770. [PMID: 38761432 DOI: 10.1016/j.epidem.2024.100770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024] Open
Abstract
In the context of infectious diseases, the dynamic interplay between ever-changing host populations and viral biology demands a more flexible modeling approach than common fixed correlations. Embracing random-effects regression models allows for a nuanced understanding of the intricate ecological and evolutionary dynamics underlying complex phenomena, offering valuable insights into disease progression and transmission patterns. In this article, we employed a random-effects regression to model an observed decreasing median plasma viral load (pVL) among individuals with HIV in Mexico City during 2019-2021. We identified how these functional slope changes (i.e. random slopes by year) improved predictions of the observed pVL median changes between 2019 and 2021, leading us to hypothesize underlying ecological and evolutionary factors. Our analysis involved a dataset of pVL values from 7325 ART-naïve individuals living with HIV, accompanied by their associated clinical and viral molecular predictors. A conventional fixed-effects linear model revealed significant correlations between pVL and predictors that evolved over time. However, this fixed-effects model could not fully explain the reduction in median pVL; thus, prompting us to adopt random-effects models. After applying a random effects regression model-with random slopes and intercepts by year-, we observed potential "functional changes" within the local HIV viral population, highlighting the importance of ecological and evolutionary considerations in HIV dynamics: A notably stronger negative correlation emerged between HIV pVL and the CpG content in the pol gene, suggesting a changing immune landscape influenced by CpG-induced innate immune responses that could impact viral load dynamics. Our study underscores the significance of random effects models in capturing dynamic correlations and the crucial role of molecular characteristics like CpG content. By enriching our understanding of changing host-virus interactions and HIV progression, our findings contribute to the broader relevance of such models in infectious disease research. They shed light on the changing interplay between host and pathogen, driving us closer to more effective strategies for managing infectious diseases. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: This study highlights a decreasing trend in median plasma viral loads among ART-naïve individuals living with HIV in Mexico City between 2019 and 2021. It uncovers various predictors significantly correlated with pVL, shedding light on the complex interplay between host-virus interactions and disease progression. By employing a random-slopes model, the researchers move beyond traditional fixed-effects models to better capture dynamic correlations and evolutionary changes in HIV dynamics. The discovery of a stronger negative correlation between pVL and CpG content in HIV-pol sequences suggests potential changes in the immune landscape and innate immune responses, opening avenues for further research into adaptive changes and responses to environmental shifts in the context of HIV infection. The study's emphasis on molecular characteristics as predictors of pVL adds valuable insights to epidemiological and evolutionary studies of viruses, providing new avenues for understanding and managing HIV infection at the population level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rocío Carrasco-Hernández
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico.
| | - Humberto Valenzuela-Ponce
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico
| | - Maribel Soto-Nava
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico
| | - Claudia García-Morales
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico
| | - Margarita Matías-Florentino
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico
| | - Joel O Wertheim
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Davey M Smith
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Gustavo Reyes-Terán
- Coordinación de Institutos Nacionales de Salud y Hospitales de Alta Especialidad, Secretaría de Salud, Mexico
| | - Santiago Ávila-Ríos
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico; Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIENI), Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas, Calz. de Tlalpan 4502, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, Ciudad de México 14080, Mexico
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2
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Klink GV, Kalinina OV, Bazykin GA. Changing selection on amino acid substitutions in Gag protein between major HIV-1 subtypes. Virus Evol 2024; 10:veae036. [PMID: 38808036 PMCID: PMC11131029 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veae036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Amino acid preferences at a protein site depend on the role of this site in protein function and structure as well as on external constraints. All these factors can change in the course of evolution, making amino acid propensities of a site time-dependent. When viral subtypes divergently evolve in different host subpopulations, such changes may depend on genetic, medical, and sociocultural differences between these subpopulations. Here, using our previously developed phylogenetic approach, we describe sixty-nine amino acid sites of the Gag protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) where amino acids have different impact on viral fitness in six major subtypes of the type M. These changes in preferences trigger adaptive evolution; indeed, 32 (46 per cent) of these sites experienced strong positive selection at least in one of the subtypes. At some of the sites, changes in amino acid preferences may be associated with differences in immune escape between subtypes. The prevalence of an amino acid in a protein site within a subtype is only a poor predictor for whether this amino acid is preferred in this subtype according to the phylogenetic analysis. Therefore, attempts to identify the factors of viral evolution from comparative genomics data should integrate across multiple sources of information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galya V Klink
- Laboratory of Molecular Evolution, Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny per. 19, build.1, Moscow 127051, Russia
- Center for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bolshoy Boulevard, 30, p.1, Skolkovo 121205, Russia
| | - Olga V Kalinina
- Drug Bioinformatics, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS)/Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Campus E8.1, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Campus E2.1, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
- Medical Faculty, Saarland University, Kirrberger Str. 100, Homburg 66421, Germany
| | - Georgii A Bazykin
- Laboratory of Molecular Evolution, Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny per. 19, build.1, Moscow 127051, Russia
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3
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Hake A, Germann A, de Beer C, Thielen A, Däumer M, Preiser W, von Briesen H, Pfeifer N. Insights to HIV-1 coreceptor usage by estimating HLA adaptation with Bayesian generalized linear mixed models. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010355. [PMID: 38127856 PMCID: PMC10769057 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The mechanisms triggering the human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) to switch the coreceptor usage from CCR5 to CXCR4 during the course of infection are not entirely understood. While low CD4+ T cell counts are associated with CXCR4 usage, a predominance of CXCR4 usage with still high CD4+ T cell counts remains puzzling. Here, we explore the hypothesis that viral adaptation to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex, especially to the HLA class II alleles, contributes to the coreceptor switch. To this end, we sequence the viral gag and env protein with corresponding HLA class I and II alleles of a new cohort of 312 treatment-naive, subtype C, chronically-infected HIV-1 patients from South Africa. To estimate HLA adaptation, we develop a novel computational approach using Bayesian generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). Our model allows to consider the entire HLA repertoire without restricting the model to pre-learned HLA-polymorphisms. In addition, we correct for phylogenetic relatedness of the viruses within the model itself to account for founder effects. Using our model, we observe that CXCR4-using variants are more adapted than CCR5-using variants (p-value = 1.34e-2). Additionally, adapted CCR5-using variants have a significantly lower predicted false positive rate (FPR) by the geno2pheno[coreceptor] tool compared to the non-adapted CCR5-using variants (p-value = 2.21e-2), where a low FPR is associated with CXCR4 usage. Consequently, estimating HLA adaptation can be an asset in predicting not only coreceptor usage, but also an approaching coreceptor switch in CCR5-using variants. We propose the usage of Bayesian GLMMs for modeling virus-host adaptation in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Hake
- Research Group Computational Biology, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken, Germany
- Saarbrücken Graduate School of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Anja Germann
- Main Department Medical Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Sulzbach, Germany
| | - Corena de Beer
- Division of Medical Virology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
- National Health Laboratory Service, Tygerberg Business Unit, Cape Town, South Africa
| | | | - Martin Däumer
- Institute of Immunology and Genetics, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Preiser
- Division of Medical Virology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
- National Health Laboratory Service, Tygerberg Business Unit, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Hagen von Briesen
- Main Department Medical Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Sulzbach, Germany
| | - Nico Pfeifer
- Research Group Computational Biology, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research, Partner Site Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Methods in Medical Informatics, Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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4
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Tao K, Rhee SY, Tzou PL, Osman ZA, Pond SLK, Holmes SP, Shafer RW. HIV-1 Group M Capsid Amino Acid Variability: Implications for Sequence Quality Control of Genotypic Resistance Testing. Viruses 2023; 15:992. [PMID: 37112972 PMCID: PMC10143361 DOI: 10.3390/v15040992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND With the approval of the HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, capsid sequencing will be required for managing lenacapavir-experienced individuals with detectable viremia. Successful sequence interpretation will require examining new capsid sequences in the context of previously published sequence data. METHODS We analyzed published HIV-1 group M capsid sequences from 21,012 capsid-inhibitor naïve individuals to characterize amino acid variability at each position and influence of subtype and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) selection pressure. We determined the distributions of usual mutations, defined as amino acid differences from the group M consensus, with a prevalence ≥ 0.1%. Co-evolving mutations were identified using a phylogenetically-informed Bayesian graphical model method. RESULTS 162 (70.1%) positions had no usual mutations (45.9%) or only conservative usual mutations with a positive BLOSUM62 score (24.2%). Variability correlated independently with subtype-specific amino acid occurrence (Spearman rho = 0.83; p < 1 × 10-9) and the number of times positions were reported to contain an HLA-associated polymorphism, an indicator of CTL pressure (rho = 0.43; p = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS Knowing the distribution of usual capsid mutations is essential for sequence quality control. Comparing capsid sequences from lenacapavir-treated and lenacapavir-naïve individuals will enable the identification of additional mutations potentially associated with lenacapavir therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaiming Tao
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Soo-Yon Rhee
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Philip L. Tzou
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Zachary A. Osman
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | - Susan P. Holmes
- Department of Statistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Robert W. Shafer
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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5
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Files JK, Sterrett S, Henostroza S, Fucile C, Maroney K, Fram T, Mallal S, Kalams S, Carlson J, Rosenberg A, Erdmann N, Bansal A, Goepfert PA. HLA-II-Associated HIV-1 Adaptation Decreases CD4 + T-Cell Responses in HIV-1 Vaccine Recipients. J Virol 2022; 96:e0119122. [PMID: 36000845 PMCID: PMC9472760 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01191-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Epitopes with evidence of HLA-II-associated adaptation induce poorly immunogenic CD4+ T-cell responses in HIV-positive (HIV+) individuals. Many such escaped CD4+ T-cell epitopes are encoded by HIV-1 vaccines being evaluated in clinical trials. Here, we assessed whether this viral adaptation adversely impacts CD4+ T-cell responses following HIV-1 vaccination, thereby representing escaped epitopes. When evaluated in separate peptide pools, vaccine-encoded adapted epitopes (AE) induced CD4+ T-cell responses less frequently than nonadapted epitopes (NAE). We also demonstrated that in a polyvalent vaccine, where both forms of the same epitope were encoded, AE were less immunogenic. NAE-specific CD4+ T cells had increased, albeit low, levels of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) cytokine production. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses showed that NAE-specific CD4+ T cells expressed interferon-related genes, while AE-specific CD4+ T cells resembled a Th2 phenotype. Importantly, the magnitude of NAE-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, but not that of AE-specific responses, was found to positively correlate with Env-specific antibodies in a vaccine efficacy trial. Together, these findings show that HLA-II-associated viral adaptation reduces CD4+ T-cell responses in HIV-1 vaccine recipients and suggest that vaccines encoding a significant number of AE may not provide optimal B-cell help for HIV-specific antibody production. IMPORTANCE Despite decades of research, an effective HIV-1 vaccine remains elusive. Vaccine strategies leading to the generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies are likely needed to provide the best opportunity of generating a protective immune response against HIV-1. Numerous studies have demonstrated that T-cell help is necessary for effective antibody generation. However, immunogen sequences from recent HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trials include CD4+ T-cell epitopes that have evidence of immune escape. Our study shows that these epitopes, termed adapted epitopes, elicit lower frequencies of CD4+ T-cell responses in recipients from multiple HIV-1 vaccine trials. Additionally, the counterparts to these epitopes, termed nonadapted epitopes, elicited CD4+ T-cell responses that correlated with Env-specific antibodies in one efficacy trial. These results suggest that vaccine-encoded adapted epitopes dampen CD4+ T-cell responses, potentially impacting both HIV-specific antibody production and efficacious vaccine efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob K. Files
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Sarah Sterrett
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Sebastian Henostroza
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Christopher Fucile
- Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Kevin Maroney
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Tim Fram
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Simon Mallal
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Spyros Kalams
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | | | - Alexander Rosenberg
- Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Nathan Erdmann
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Anju Bansal
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Paul A. Goepfert
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
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6
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Habermann D, Kharimzadeh H, Walker A, Li Y, Yang R, Kaiser R, Brumme ZL, Timm J, Roggendorf M, Hoffmann D. HAMdetector: A Bayesian regression model that integrates information to detect HLA-associated mutations. Bioinformatics 2022; 38:2428-2436. [PMID: 35238330 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Revised: 11/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION A key process in anti-viral adaptive immunity is that the Human Leukocyte Antigen system (HLA) presents epitopes as Major Histocompatibility Complex I (MHC I) protein-peptide complexes on cell surfaces and in this way alerts CD8+ cytotoxic T-Lymphocytes (CTLs). This pathway exerts strong selection pressure on viruses, favoring viral mutants that escape recognition by the HLA/CTL system. Naturally, such immune escape mutations often emerge in highly variable viruses, e.g. HIV or HBV, as HLA-associated mutations (HAMs), specific to the hosts MHC I proteins. The reliable identification of HAMs is not only important for understanding viral genomes and their evolution, but it also impacts the development of broadly effective anti-viral treatments and vaccines against variable viruses. By their very nature, HAMs are amenable to detection by statistical methods in paired sequence/HLA data. However, HLA alleles are very polymorphic in the human host population which makes the available data relatively sparse and noisy. Under these circumstances, one way to optimize HAM detection is to integrate all relevant information in a coherent model. Bayesian inference offers a principled approach to achieve this. RESULTS We present a new Bayesian regression model for the detection of HAMs that integrates a sparsity-inducing prior, epitope predictions, and phylogenetic bias assessment, and that yields easily interpretable quantitative information on HAM candidates. The model predicts experimentally confirmed HAMs as having high posterior probabilities, and it performs well in comparison to state-of-the-art models for several data sets from individuals infected with HBV, HDV, and HIV. AVAILABILITY The source code of this software is available at https://github.com/HAMdetector/Escape.jl under a permissive MIT license. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Habermann
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, 45117, Germany
| | - Hadi Kharimzadeh
- Division of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Andreas Walker
- Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany
| | - Yang Li
- AIDS and HIV Research Group, State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology,Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, P. R. China
| | - Rongge Yang
- AIDS and HIV Research Group, State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology,Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan, P. R. China
| | - Rolf Kaiser
- Institute of Virology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, 50935, Germany
| | - Zabrina L Brumme
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.,British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jörg Timm
- Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany
| | - Michael Roggendorf
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich/Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany
| | - Daniel Hoffmann
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, 45117, Germany.,Center of Medical Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.,Center for Computational Sciences and Simulation, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
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7
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Lewitus E, Sanders-Buell E, Bose M, O'Sullivan AM, Poltavee K, Li Y, Bai H, Mdluli T, Donofrio G, Slike B, Zhao H, Wong K, Chen L, Miller S, Lee J, Ahani B, Lepore S, Muhammad S, Grande R, Tran U, Dussupt V, Mendez-Rivera L, Nitayaphan S, Kaewkungwal J, Pitisuttithum P, Rerks-Ngarm S, O'Connell RJ, Janes H, Gilbert PB, Gramzinski R, Vasan S, Robb ML, Michael NL, Krebs SJ, Herbeck JT, Edlefsen PT, Mullins JI, Kim JH, Tovanabutra S, Rolland M. RV144 vaccine imprinting constrained HIV-1 evolution following breakthrough infection. Virus Evol 2021; 7:veab057. [PMID: 34532060 PMCID: PMC8438874 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veab057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2021] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The scale of the HIV-1 epidemic underscores the need for a vaccine. The multitude of circulating HIV-1 strains together with HIV-1’s high evolvability hints that HIV-1 could adapt to a future vaccine. Here, we wanted to investigate the effect of vaccination on the evolution of the virus post-breakthrough infection. We analyzed 2,635 HIV-1 env sequences sampled up to a year post-diagnosis from 110 vaccine and placebo participants who became infected in the RV144 vaccine efficacy trial. We showed that the Env signature sites that were previously identified to distinguish vaccine and placebo participants were maintained over time. In addition, fewer sites were under diversifying selection in the vaccine group than in the placebo group. These results indicate that HIV-1 would possibly adapt to a vaccine upon its roll-out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Lewitus
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | | | - Meera Bose
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | | | - Kultida Poltavee
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Yifan Li
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Hongjun Bai
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Thembi Mdluli
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Gina Donofrio
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Bonnie Slike
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Hong Zhao
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Kim Wong
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Lennie Chen
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Shana Miller
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Jenica Lee
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Bahar Ahani
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Steven Lepore
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Sevan Muhammad
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Rebecca Grande
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Ursula Tran
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Vincent Dussupt
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | | | - Sorachai Nitayaphan
- US Army Medical Directorate of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Jaranit Kaewkungwal
- US Army Medical Directorate of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | | | - Robert J O'Connell
- US Army Medical Directorate of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Holly Janes
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Peter B Gilbert
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Robert Gramzinski
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Sandhya Vasan
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Merlin L Robb
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Nelson L Michael
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Shelly J Krebs
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Joshua T Herbeck
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Paul T Edlefsen
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - James I Mullins
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Jerome H Kim
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | | | - Morgane Rolland
- US Military HIV Research Program, WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
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8
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Kist NC, Lambert B, Campbell S, Katzourakis A, Lunn D, Lemey P, Iversen AKN. HIV-1 p24Gag adaptation to modern and archaic HLA-allele frequency differences in ethnic groups contributes to viral subtype diversification. Virus Evol 2020; 6:veaa085. [PMID: 33343925 PMCID: PMC7733611 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veaa085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Pathogen-driven selection and past interbreeding with archaic human lineages have resulted in differences in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-allele frequencies between modern human populations. Whether or not this variation affects pathogen subtype diversification is unknown. Here we show a strong positive correlation between ethnic diversity in African countries and both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 p24gag and subtype diversity. We demonstrate that ethnic HLA-allele differences between populations have influenced HIV-1 subtype diversification as the virus adapted to escape common antiviral immune responses. The evolution of HIV Subtype B (HIV-B), which does not appear to be indigenous to Africa, is strongly affected by immune responses associated with Eurasian HLA variants acquired through adaptive introgression from Neanderthals and Denisovans. Furthermore, we show that the increasing and disproportionate number of HIV-infections among African Americans in the USA drive HIV-B evolution towards an Africa-centric HIV-1 state. Similar adaptation of other pathogens to HLA variants common in affected populations is likely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolaas C Kist
- Division of Clinical Neurology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Ben Lambert
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Medical School Building St Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK
| | - Samuel Campbell
- Division of Clinical Neurology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Aris Katzourakis
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Daniel Lunn
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3LB, UK
| | - Philippe Lemey
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven B-3000, Belgium
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9
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Impaired ability of Nef to counteract SERINC5 is associated with reduced plasma viremia in HIV-infected individuals. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19416. [PMID: 33173092 PMCID: PMC7656250 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76375-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 Nef plays an essential role in enhancing virion infectivity by antagonizing the host restriction molecule SERINC5. Because Nef is highly polymorphic due to the selective forces of host cellular immunity, we hypothesized that certain immune-escape polymorphisms may impair Nef’s ability to antagonize SERINC5 and thereby influence viral fitness in vivo. To test this hypothesis, we identified 58 Nef polymorphisms that were overrepresented in HIV-infected patients in Japan sharing the same HLA genotypes. The number of immune-associated Nef polymorphisms was inversely correlated with the plasma viral load. By breaking down the specific HLA allele-associated mutations, we found that a number of the HLA-B*51:01-associated Y120F and Q125H mutations were most significantly associated with a reduced plasma viral load. A series of biochemical experiments showed that the double mutations Y120F/Q125H, but not either single mutation, impaired Nef’s ability to antagonize SERINC5 and was associated with decreasing virion infectivity and viral replication in primary lymphocytes. In contrast, other Nef functions such as CD4, CCR5, CXCR4 and HLA class I downregulation and CD74 upregulation remained unchanged. Taken together, our results suggest that the differential ability of Nef to counteract SERINC5 by naturally occurring immune-associated mutations was associated with the plasma viral load in vivo.
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10
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Clinical and evolutionary consequences of HIV adaptation to HLA: implications for vaccine and cure. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2020; 14:194-204. [PMID: 30925534 DOI: 10.1097/coh.0000000000000541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in our understanding of HIV adaptation to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-associated immune pressures and its relevance to HIV prevention and cure research. RECENT FINDINGS Recent research has confirmed that HLA is a major driver of individual and population-level HIV evolution, that HIV strains are adapting to the immunogenetic profiles of the different human ethnic groups in which they circulate, and that HIV adaptation has substantial clinical and immunologic consequences. As such, adaptation represents a major challenge to HIV prevention and cure. At the same time, there are opportunities: Studies of HIV adaptation are revealing why certain HLA alleles are protective in some populations and not others; they are identifying immunogenic viral epitopes that harbor high mutational barriers to escape, and they may help illuminate novel, vaccine-relevant HIV epitopes in regions where circulating adaptation is extensive. Elucidation of HLA-driven adapted and nonadapted viral forms in different human populations and HIV subtypes also renders 'personalized' immunogen selection, as a component of HIV cure strategies, conceptually feasible. SUMMARY Though adaptation represents a major challenge to HIV prevention and cure, achieving an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon can help move the design of such strategies forward.
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11
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Qin K, Boppana S, Du VY, Carlson JM, Yue L, Dilernia DA, Hunter E, Mailliard RB, Mallal SA, Bansal A, Goepfert PA. CD8 T cells targeting adapted epitopes in chronic HIV infection promote dendritic cell maturation and CD4 T cell trans-infection. PLoS Pathog 2019; 15:e1007970. [PMID: 31398241 PMCID: PMC6703693 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 frequently escapes from CD8 T cell responses via HLA-I restricted adaptation, leading to the accumulation of adapted epitopes (AE). We previously demonstrated that AE compromise CD8 T cell responses during acute infection and are associated with poor clinical outcomes. Here, we examined the impact of AE on CD8 T cell responses and their biological relevance in chronic HIV infection (CHI). In contrast to acute infection, the majority of AE are immunogenic in CHI. Longitudinal analyses from acute to CHI showed an increased frequency and magnitude of AE-specific IFNγ responses compared to NAE-specific ones. These AE-specific CD8 T cells also were more cytotoxic to CD4 T cells. In addition, AE-specific CD8 T cells expressed lower levels of PD1 and CD57, as well as higher levels of CD28, suggesting a more activated and less exhausted phenotype. During CHI, viral sequencing identified AE-encoding strains as the dominant quasispecies. Despite increased CD4 T cell cytotoxicity, CD8 T cells responding to AE promoted dendritic cell (DC) maturation and CD4 T cell trans-infection perhaps explaining why AE are predominant in CHI. Taken together, our data suggests that the emergence of AE-specific CD8 T cell responses in CHI confers a selective advantage to the virus by promoting DC-mediated CD4 T cell trans-infection. HIV-1 infection remains a critical public health threat across the world. Over the past two decades, CD8 T cells have been clearly shown to exert immune pressure on HIV and drive viral adaptation. Previously, our group reported that such HLA-I associated adaptations can predict clinical outcomes and are beneficial to HIV-1 as CD8 T cells are unable to recognize epitopes with adaptation in acute HIV infection. However, it is still unclear how HIV-1 adaptation impacts CD8 T cells during chronic HIV infection. In this study, we observed an enhancement of CD8 T cell responses targeting adapted epitopes in chronic infection. Although these responses were cytotoxic, they also exhibited a “helper” effect by promoting viral infection of CD4 T cells via interaction with dendritic cells. This phenomenon may contribute to the persistence of adapted viruses. In summary, these findings present a novel mechanism of CD8 T cell driven HIV-1 adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Qin
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Sushma Boppana
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
| | - Victor Y. Du
- The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | | | - Ling Yue
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Dario A. Dilernia
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Eric Hunter
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Robbie B. Mailliard
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Simon A. Mallal
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Anju Bansal
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- * E-mail: (AB); (PAG)
| | - Paul A. Goepfert
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- * E-mail: (AB); (PAG)
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12
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Barton JP, Rajkoomar E, Mann JK, Murakowski DK, Toyoda M, Mahiti M, Mwimanzi P, Ueno T, Chakraborty AK, Ndung'u T. Modelling and in vitro testing of the HIV-1 Nef fitness landscape. Virus Evol 2019; 5:vez029. [PMID: 31392033 PMCID: PMC6680064 DOI: 10.1093/ve/vez029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
An effective vaccine is urgently required to curb the HIV-1 epidemic. We have previously described an approach to model the fitness landscape of several HIV-1 proteins, and have validated the results against experimental and clinical data. The fitness landscape may be used to identify mutation patterns harmful to virus viability, and consequently inform the design of immunogens that can target such regions for immunological control. Here we apply such an analysis and complementary experiments to HIV-1 Nef, a multifunctional protein which plays a key role in HIV-1 pathogenesis. We measured Nef-driven replication capacities as well as Nef-mediated CD4 and HLA-I down-modulation capacities of thirty-two different Nef mutants, and tested model predictions against these results. Furthermore, we evaluated the models using 448 patient-derived Nef sequences for which several Nef activities were previously measured. Model predictions correlated significantly with Nef-driven replication and CD4 down-modulation capacities, but not HLA-I down-modulation capacities, of the various Nef mutants. Similarly, in our analysis of patient-derived Nef sequences, CD4 down-modulation capacity correlated the most significantly with model predictions, suggesting that of the tested Nef functions, this is the most important in vivo. Overall, our results highlight how the fitness landscape inferred from patient-derived sequences captures, at least in part, the in vivo functional effects of mutations to Nef. However, the correlation between predictions of the fitness landscape and measured parameters of Nef function is not as accurate as the correlation observed in past studies for other proteins. This may be because of the additional complexity associated with inferring the cost of mutations on the diverse functions of Nef.
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Affiliation(s)
- John P Barton
- Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Erasha Rajkoomar
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Jaclyn K Mann
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Dariusz K Murakowski
- Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Mako Toyoda
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | | | | | - Takamasa Ueno
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.,International Research Center for Medical Sciences (IRCMS), Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Arup K Chakraborty
- Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thumbi Ndung'u
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.,Africa Health Research Institute, Durban, South Africa.,Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Chariteplatz, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
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13
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Palmer DS, Turner I, Fidler S, Frater J, Goedhals D, Goulder P, Huang KHG, Oxenius A, Phillips R, Shapiro R, Vuuren CV, McLean AR, McVean G. Mapping the drivers of within-host pathogen evolution using massive data sets. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3017. [PMID: 31289267 PMCID: PMC6616926 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10724-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Differences among hosts, resulting from genetic variation in the immune system or heterogeneity in drug treatment, can impact within-host pathogen evolution. Genetic association studies can potentially identify such interactions. However, extensive and correlated genetic population structure in hosts and pathogens presents a substantial risk of confounding analyses. Moreover, the multiple testing burden of interaction scanning can potentially limit power. We present a Bayesian approach for detecting host influences on pathogen evolution that exploits vast existing data sets of pathogen diversity to improve power and control for stratification. The approach models key processes, including recombination and selection, and identifies regions of the pathogen genome affected by host factors. Our simulations and empirical analysis of drug-induced selection on the HIV-1 genome show that the method recovers known associations and has superior precision-recall characteristics compared to other approaches. We build a high-resolution map of HLA-induced selection in the HIV-1 genome, identifying novel epitope-allele combinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duncan S Palmer
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK.
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
- Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, Oxford, OX1 3BD, UK.
| | - Isaac Turner
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Sarah Fidler
- Division of Medicine, Wright Fleming Institute, Imperial College, London, W2 1PG, UK
| | - John Frater
- Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, Oxford, OX1 3BD, UK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK
- Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK
| | - Dominique Goedhals
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4013, South Africa
| | - Philip Goulder
- Division of Infectious Diseases, University of the Free State, and 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Kuan-Hsiang Gary Huang
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK
- Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, 5501 Old York Road, PA, 19141, USA
| | - Annette Oxenius
- Institute of Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rodney Phillips
- Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, Oxford, OX1 3BD, UK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK
- Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, OX3 7LE, UK
- Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Roger Shapiro
- Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone, BO 320, Botswana
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Cloete van Vuuren
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4013, South Africa
| | - Angela R McLean
- Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, Oxford, OX1 3BD, UK
- Zoology Department, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Gil McVean
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK
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14
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Kinloch NN, Lee GQ, Carlson JM, Jin SW, Brumme CJ, Byakwaga H, Muzoora C, Bwana MB, Cobarrubias KD, Hunt PW, Martin JN, Carrington M, Bangsberg DR, Harrigan PR, Brockman MA, Brumme ZL. Genotypic and Mechanistic Characterization of Subtype-Specific HIV Adaptation to Host Cellular Immunity. J Virol 2019; 93:e01502-18. [PMID: 30305354 PMCID: PMC6288327 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01502-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The extent to which viral genetic context influences HIV adaptation to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-restricted immune pressures remains incompletely understood. The Ugandan HIV epidemic, where major pandemic group M subtypes A1 and D cocirculate in a single host population, provides an opportunity to investigate this question. We characterized plasma HIV RNA gag, pol, and nef sequences, along with host HLA genotypes, in 464 antiretroviral-naive individuals chronically infected with HIV subtype A1 or D. Using phylogenetically informed statistical approaches, we identified HLA-associated polymorphisms and formally compared their strengths of selection between viral subtypes. A substantial number (32%) of HLA-associated polymorphisms identified in subtype A1 and/or D had previously been reported in subtype B, C, and/or circulating recombinant form 01_AE (CRF01_AE), confirming the shared nature of many HLA-driven escape pathways regardless of viral genetic context. Nevertheless, 34% of the identified HLA-associated polymorphisms were significantly differentially selected between subtypes A1 and D. Experimental investigation of select examples of subtype-specific escape revealed distinct underlying mechanisms with important implications for vaccine design: whereas some were attributable to subtype-specific sequence variation that influenced epitope-HLA binding, others were attributable to differential mutational barriers to immune escape. Overall, our results confirm that HIV genetic context is a key modulator of viral adaptation to host cellular immunity and highlight the power of combined bioinformatic and mechanistic studies, paired with knowledge of epitope immunogenicity, to identify appropriate viral regions for inclusion in subtype-specific and universal HIV vaccine strategies.IMPORTANCE The identification of HIV polymorphisms reproducibly selected under pressure by specific HLA alleles and the elucidation of their impact on viral function can help identify immunogenic viral regions where immune escape incurs a fitness cost. However, our knowledge of HLA-driven escape pathways and their functional costs is largely limited to HIV subtype B and, to a lesser extent, subtype C. Our study represents the first characterization of HLA-driven adaptation pathways in HIV subtypes A1 and D, which dominate in East Africa, and the first statistically rigorous characterization of differential HLA-driven escape across viral subtypes. The results support a considerable impact of viral genetic context on HIV adaptation to host HLA, where HIV subtype-specific sequence variation influences both epitope-HLA binding and the fitness costs of escape. Integrated bioinformatic and mechanistic characterization of these and other instances of differential escape could aid rational cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-based vaccine immunogen selection for both subtype-specific and universal HIV vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie N Kinloch
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Guinevere Q Lee
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Steven W Jin
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Chanson J Brumme
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Helen Byakwaga
- Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda
- University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Conrad Muzoora
- Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda
| | - Mwebesa B Bwana
- Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda
| | - Kyle D Cobarrubias
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Peter W Hunt
- University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jeff N Martin
- University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Mary Carrington
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland, USA
| | - David R Bangsberg
- Oregon Health and Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - P Richard Harrigan
- Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Mark A Brockman
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Zabrina L Brumme
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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15
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HLA-associated polymorphisms in the HIV-2 capsid highlight key differences between HIV-1 and HIV-2 immune adaptation. AIDS 2018; 32:709-714. [PMID: 29369160 PMCID: PMC5895130 DOI: 10.1097/qad.0000000000001753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE HIV-1 frequently adapts in response to immune pressure from cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). Many HIV-2 infected individuals have robust capsid-specific CTL responses associated with viral control. Despite this CTL pressure, adaptive changes in this key immunogenic HIV-2 protein have not previously been described. We sought to compare selective pressure on HIV-1 and HIV-2 capsids and identify HLA-associated viral polymorphisms in HIV-2. DESIGN AND METHODS Bioinformatic algorithms to identify sites under positive and negative selective pressure and a statistical model of evolution to identify HLA-associated polymorphisms in HIV-2 was applied to sequences from a community cohort in Guinea-Bissau. IFN-γ ELISpots were used to compare T-cell responses to wild-type and variant epitopes. RESULTS We identified greater purifying selection and less sites under positive selective pressure in HIV-2 compared with HIV-1. Five HIV-2 codons with HLA-associated polymorphisms were detected all within or around known or predicted CTL epitopes. One site was within the HLA-B58 SuperType (ST)-restricted epitope (TSTVEEQIQW), the HIV-2 equivalent of the HIV-1 TW10 epitope. In contrast to HIV-1, where a T→N mutation at position 3 is associated with resulting loss of CTL control, an E→D mutation at position 5 was observed in HIV-2. Robust CTL responses to the variant HIV-2 epitope were seen, suggesting that HIV-2 adaptation may be at the level of T-cell receptor recognition. CONCLUSION Greater constraints on evolution may exist in HIV-2, resulting in more purifying selection and different immune adaptation pathways in HIV-1 and HIV-2 capsids. This may allow CTL responses to persist in HIV-2.
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16
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Weaker HLA Footprints on HIV in the Unique and Highly Genetically Admixed Host Population of Mexico. J Virol 2018; 92:JVI.01128-17. [PMID: 29093100 PMCID: PMC5752930 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01128-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 10/27/2017] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
HIV circumvents HLA class I-restricted CD8+ T-cell responses through selection of escape mutations that leave characteristic mutational “footprints,” also known as HLA-associated polymorphisms (HAPs), on HIV sequences at the population level. While many HLA footprints are universal across HIV subtypes and human populations, others can be region specific as a result of the unique immunogenetic background of each host population. Using a published probabilistic phylogenetically informed model, we compared HAPs in HIV Gag and Pol (PR-RT) in 1,612 subtype B-infected, antiretroviral treatment-naive individuals from Mexico and 1,641 individuals from Canada/United States. A total of 252 HLA class I allele subtypes were represented, including 140 observed in both cohorts, 67 unique to Mexico, and 45 unique to Canada/United States. At the predefined statistical threshold of a q value of <0.2, 358 HAPs (201 in Gag, 157 in PR-RT) were identified in Mexico, while 905 (534 in Gag and 371 in PR-RT) were identified in Canada/United States. HAPs identified in Mexico included both canonical HLA-associated escape pathways and novel associations, in particular with HLA alleles enriched in Amerindian and mestizo populations. Remarkably, HLA footprints on HIV in Mexico were not only fewer but also, on average, significantly weaker than those in Canada/United States, although some exceptions were noted. Moreover, exploratory analyses suggested that the weaker HLA footprint on HIV in Mexico may be due, at least in part, to weaker and/or less reproducible HLA-mediated immune pressures on HIV in this population. The implications of these differences for natural and vaccine-induced anti-HIV immunity merit further investigation. IMPORTANCE HLA footprints on HIV identify viral regions under intense and consistent pressure by HLA-restricted immune responses and the common mutational pathways that HIV uses to evade them. In particular, HLA footprints can identify novel immunogenic regions and/or epitopes targeted by understudied HLA alleles; moreover, comparative analyses across immunogenetically distinct populations can illuminate the extent to which HIV immunogenic regions and escape pathways are shared versus population-specific pathways, information which can in turn inform the design of universal or geographically tailored HIV vaccines. We compared HLA-associated footprints on HIV in two immunogenetically distinct North American populations, those of Mexico and Canada/United States. We identify both shared and population-specific pathways of HIV adaptation but also make the surprising observation that HLA footprints on HIV in Mexico overall are fewer and weaker than those in Canada/United States, raising the possibility that HLA-restricted antiviral immune responses in Mexico are weaker, and/or escape pathways somewhat less consistent, than those in other populations.
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17
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Parto S, Lartillot N. Detecting consistent patterns of directional adaptation using differential selection codon models. BMC Evol Biol 2017. [PMID: 28645318 PMCID: PMC5481935 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-0979-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Phylogenetic codon models are often used to characterize the selective regimes acting on protein-coding sequences. Recent methodological developments have led to models explicitly accounting for the interplay between mutation and selection, by modeling the amino acid fitness landscape along the sequence. However, thus far, most of these models have assumed that the fitness landscape is constant over time. Fluctuations of the fitness landscape may often be random or depend on complex and unknown factors. However, some organisms may be subject to systematic changes in selective pressure, resulting in reproducible molecular adaptations across independent lineages subject to similar conditions. RESULTS Here, we introduce a codon-based differential selection model, which aims to detect and quantify the fine-grained consistent patterns of adaptation at the protein-coding level, as a function of external conditions experienced by the organism under investigation. The model parameterizes the global mutational pressure, as well as the site- and condition-specific amino acid selective preferences. This phylogenetic model is implemented in a Bayesian MCMC framework. After validation with simulations, we applied our method to a dataset of HIV sequences from patients with known HLA genetic background. Our differential selection model detects and characterizes differentially selected coding positions specifically associated with two different HLA alleles. CONCLUSION Our differential selection model is able to identify consistent molecular adaptations as a function of repeated changes in the environment of the organism. These models can be applied to many other problems, ranging from viral adaptation to evolution of life-history strategies in plants or animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahar Parto
- Département de Biochimie et Médecine Moléculaire, Centre Robert Cedergren, Bio-Informatique et Génomique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| | - Nicolas Lartillot
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5558, Lyon, France
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18
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Abstract
In this chapter, we will review recent research on the virology of HIV-1 transmission and the impact of the transmitted virus genotype on subsequent disease progression. In most instances of HIV-1 sexual transmission, a single genetic variant, or a very limited number of variants from the diverse viral quasi-species present in the transmitting partner establishes systemic infection. Transmission involves both stochastic and selective processes, such that in general a minority variant in the donor is transmitted. While there is clear evidence for selection, the biological properties that mediate transmission remain incompletely defined. Nevertheless, the genotype of the transmitted founder virus, which reflects prior exposure to and escape from host immune responses, clearly influences disease progression. Some escape mutations impact replicative capacity, while others effectively cloak the virus from the newly infected host's immune response by preventing recognition. It is the balance between the impact of escape mutations on viral fitness and susceptibility to the host immunogenetics that defines HIV-1 disease progression.
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19
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Zanini F, Puller V, Brodin J, Albert J, Neher RA. In vivo mutation rates and the landscape of fitness costs of HIV-1. Virus Evol 2017; 3:vex003. [PMID: 28458914 PMCID: PMC5399928 DOI: 10.1093/ve/vex003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Mutation rates and fitness costs of deleterious mutations are difficult to measure in vivo but essential for a quantitative understanding of evolution. Using whole genome deep sequencing data from longitudinal samples during untreated HIV-1 infection, we estimated mutation rates and fitness costs in HIV-1 from the dynamics of genetic variation. At approximately neutral sites, mutations accumulate with a rate of 1.2 × 10-5 per site per day, in agreement with the rate measured in cell cultures. We estimated the rate from G to A to be the largest, followed by the other transitions C to T, T to C, and A to G, while transversions are less frequent. At other sites, mutations tend to reduce virus replication. We estimated the fitness cost of mutations at every site in the HIV-1 genome using a model of mutation selection balance. About half of all non-synonymous mutations have large fitness costs (>10 percent), while most synonymous mutations have costs <1 percent. The cost of synonymous mutations is especially low in most of pol where we could not detect measurable costs for the majority of synonymous mutations. In contrast, we find high costs for synonymous mutations in important RNA structures and regulatory regions. The intra-patient fitness cost estimates are consistent across multiple patients, indicating that the deleterious part of the fitness landscape is universal and explains a large fraction of global HIV-1 group M diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Zanini
- Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen 72076, Germany
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Vadim Puller
- Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen 72076, Germany
| | - Johanna Brodin
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jan Albert
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Richard A. Neher
- Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen 72076, Germany
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Dynamics and Correlates of CD8 T-Cell Counts in Africans with Primary Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection. J Virol 2016; 90:10423-10430. [PMID: 27630231 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01467-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2016] [Accepted: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
In individuals with HIV-1 infection, depletion of CD4+ T cells is often accompanied by a malfunction of CD8+ T cells that are persistently activated and/or exhausted. While the dynamics and correlates of CD4 counts have been well documented, the same does not apply to CD8 counts. Here, we examined the CD8 counts in a cohort of 497 Africans with primary HIV-1 infection evaluated in monthly to quarterly follow-up visits for up to 3 years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. Statistical models revealed that (i) CD8 counts were relatively steady in the 3- to 36-month period of infection and similar between men and women; (ii) neither geography nor heterogeneity in the HIV-1 set-point viral load could account for the roughly 10-fold range of CD8 counts in the cohort (P > 0.25 in all tests); and (iii) factors independently associated with relatively high CD8 counts included demographics (age ≤ 40 years, adjusted P = 0.010) and several human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) alleles, including HLA-A*03:01 (P = 0.013), B*15:10 (P = 0.007), and B*58:02 (P < 0.001). Multiple sensitivity analyses provided supporting evidence for these novel relationships. Overall, these findings suggest that factors associated with the CD8 count have little overlap with those previously reported for other HIV-1-related outcome measures, including viral load, CD4 count, and CD4/CD8 ratio. IMPORTANCE Longitudinal data from 497 HIV-1 seroconverters allowed us to systematically evaluate the dynamics and correlates of CD8+ T-cell counts during untreated primary HIV-1 infection in eastern and southern Africans. Our findings suggest that individuals with certain HLA-I alleles, including A*03 (exclusively A*03:01), persistently maintain relatively high CD8 counts following HIV-1 infection, a finding which may offer an intriguing explanation for the recently reported, negative association of A*03 with HIV-1-specific, broadly neutralizing antibody responses. In future studies, attention to HLA-I genotyping data may benefit in-depth understanding of both cellular and humoral immunity, as well as the intrinsic balances of these types of immunity, especially in settings where there is emerging evidence of antagonism between the two arms of adaptive immunity.
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Bayesian Inference of the Evolution of a Phenotype Distribution on a Phylogenetic Tree. Genetics 2016; 204:89-98. [PMID: 27412711 PMCID: PMC5012407 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.116.190496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2016] [Accepted: 07/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The distribution of a phenotype on a phylogenetic tree is often a quantity of interest. Many phenotypes have imperfect heritability, so that a measurement of the phenotype for an individual can be thought of as a single realization from the phenotype distribution of that individual. If all individuals in a phylogeny had the same phenotype distribution, measured phenotypes would be randomly distributed on the tree leaves. This is, however, often not the case, implying that the phenotype distribution evolves over time. Here we propose a new model based on this principle of evolving phenotype distribution on the branches of a phylogeny, which is different from ancestral state reconstruction where the phenotype itself is assumed to evolve. We develop an efficient Bayesian inference method to estimate the parameters of our model and to test the evidence for changes in the phenotype distribution. We use multiple simulated data sets to show that our algorithm has good sensitivity and specificity properties. Since our method identifies branches on the tree on which the phenotype distribution has changed, it is able to break down a tree into components for which this distribution is unique and constant. We present two applications of our method, one investigating the association between HIV genetic variation and human leukocyte antigen and the other studying host range distribution in a lineage of Salmonella enterica, and we discuss many other potential applications.
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Kamori D, Hasan Z, Ohashi J, Kawana-Tachikawa A, Gatanaga H, Oka S, Ueno T. Identification of two unique naturally occurring Vpr sequence polymorphisms associated with clinical parameters in HIV-1 chronic infection. J Med Virol 2016; 89:123-129. [PMID: 27328918 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.24612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
HIV-1 viral protein R (Vpr) plays important roles in HIV-1 replication. Despite the identification of a number of HLA class I-associated immune escape mutations; it is yet known whether immune-driven Vpr polymorphisms are associated with disease outcome. Hereby, we comprehensively analyzed Vpr sequence polymorphisms and their association with disease outcome and host HLA genotypes, by using plasma viral RNA isolated from 444 HLA-typed, treatment-naïve, chronically HIV-1 infected individuals. Vpr amino acid residues at positions 13, 37, 45, 55, 63, 77, 84, 85, 86, and 93 were significantly associated with patients' plasma viral load and/or CD4 count. Further analysis revealed Ala at position 55 was significantly associated with lower plasma viral load; and Thr at position 63 was significantly associated with lower plasma viral load and higher CD4 count. Also, the number of amino acid residues at the two positions, located in a functionally important α-helical domain, correlated inversely with plasma viral load and positively with CD4 count. Moreover, a phylogenetically corrected method revealed residues at positions 55 and 63 are associated with patients' HLA genotypes. Taken together, our results suggest that Vpr polymorphisms at functionally important and immune-reactive sites may contribute, at least in part, to viral replication and disease outcome in vivo. J. Med. Virol. 89:123-129, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doreen Kamori
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Zafrul Hasan
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Jun Ohashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ai Kawana-Tachikawa
- AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.,Institute of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Gatanaga
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.,AIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shinichi Oka
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.,AIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takamasa Ueno
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan. .,International Research Center for Medical Sciences (IRCMS), Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
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Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA)-restricted CD8(+) T lymphocyte (CTL) responses are crucial to HIV-1 control. Although HIV can evade these responses, the longer-term impact of viral escape mutants remains unclear, as these variants can also reduce intrinsic viral fitness. To address this, we here developed a metric to determine the degree of HIV adaptation to an HLA profile. We demonstrate that transmission of viruses that are pre-adapted to the HLA molecules expressed in the recipient is associated with impaired immunogenicity, elevated viral load and accelerated CD4(+) T cell decline. Furthermore, the extent of pre-adaptation among circulating viruses explains much of the variation in outcomes attributed to the expression of certain HLA alleles. Thus, viral pre-adaptation exploits 'holes' in the immune response. Accounting for these holes may be key for vaccine strategies seeking to elicit functional responses from viral variants, and to HIV cure strategies that require broad CTL responses to achieve successful eradication of HIV reservoirs.
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Differences in the Selection Bottleneck between Modes of Sexual Transmission Influence the Genetic Composition of the HIV-1 Founder Virus. PLoS Pathog 2016; 12:e1005619. [PMID: 27163788 PMCID: PMC4862634 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2015] [Accepted: 04/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Due to the stringent population bottleneck that occurs during sexual HIV-1 transmission, systemic infection is typically established by a limited number of founder viruses. Elucidation of the precise forces influencing the selection of founder viruses may reveal key vulnerabilities that could aid in the development of a vaccine or other clinical interventions. Here, we utilize deep sequencing data and apply a genetic distance-based method to investigate whether the mode of sexual transmission shapes the nascent founder viral genome. Analysis of 74 acute and early HIV-1 infected subjects revealed that 83% of men who have sex with men (MSM) exhibit a single founder virus, levels similar to those previously observed in heterosexual (HSX) transmission. In a metadata analysis of a total of 354 subjects, including HSX, MSM and injecting drug users (IDU), we also observed no significant differences in the frequency of single founder virus infections between HSX and MSM transmissions. However, comparison of HIV-1 envelope sequences revealed that HSX founder viruses exhibited a greater number of codon sites under positive selection, as well as stronger transmission indices possibly reflective of higher fitness variants. Moreover, specific genetic “signatures” within MSM and HSX founder viruses were identified, with single polymorphisms within gp41 enriched among HSX viruses while more complex patterns, including clustered polymorphisms surrounding the CD4 binding site, were enriched in MSM viruses. While our findings do not support an influence of the mode of sexual transmission on the number of founder viruses, they do demonstrate that there are marked differences in the selection bottleneck that can significantly shape their genetic composition. This study illustrates the complex dynamics of the transmission bottleneck and reveals that distinct genetic bottleneck processes exist dependent upon the mode of HIV-1 transmission. While the global spread of HIV-1 has been fueled by sexual transmission the genetic determinants underlying the transmission bottleneck remains poorly understood. Here we characterized founder virus population diversity from next generation sequencing data in a cohort of 74 acute and early HIV-1 infected individuals. We observe that the risk of multi-variant infection in men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) is not greater than that observed for heterosexuals (HSX), contrary to reports of higher rates of multiple founder virus infections in higher-risk MSM transmissions. These findings were further supported through a metadata analysis of 354 acute and early HIV-1 subjects. We did, however, observe differences between HSM and MSM founder viruses, including a higher selection barrier in HSX transmission with founder viruses being more cohort consensus-like that may be reflective of increased replicative fitness. We also identified a number of residues within Envelope that behave in a risk-dependent manner and could be key for HIV-1 transmission. These novel insights improve our understanding of the HIV-1 transmission bottleneck and underscore the differential selective pressures that founder viruses within the two major transmission risk groups are subjected to.
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A strong association of human leukocyte antigen-associated Pol and Gag mutations with clinical parameters in HIV-1 subtype A/E infection. AIDS 2016; 30:681-9. [PMID: 26595539 DOI: 10.1097/qad.0000000000000969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Identification of human leukocyte antigen-associated HIV-1 polymorphisms (HLA-APs) in different global populations furthers our understanding of HIV-1 pathogenesis and may help identify candidate immunogens for HIV vaccines targeted to these populations. Although numerous population-based studies identifying HLA-APs have been conducted in HIV-1 subtype B- and subtype C-infected cohorts, few have focused on subtype A/E. DESIGN We investigated HLA-APs in a cohort of chronically HIV-1 subtype A/E-infected Vietnamese individuals. METHODS HLA-APs in HIV-1 Gag, Pol, and Nef regions from 388 treatment-naive individuals chronically infected with HIV-1 subtype A/E were analyzed using phylogenetically informed approaches. RESULTS A total of 303 HLA-APs were identified. HLA-APs occurring at six positions in Gag and six positions in Pol were significantly associated with higher plasma viral load (pVL), whereas HLA-APs occurring at two positions in Gag and 13 positions in Pol were significantly associated with lower CD4 T-cell counts. Furthermore, the proportion of Pol codons harboring an HLA-AP specific to the host's HLA correlated positively with HIV-1 pVL (R = 0.22; P < 0.0001) and inversely with CD4 T-cell counts (R = -0.32; P < 0.0001). Similarly, the proportion of HLA-associated Gag codons harboring host-specific HLA-AP correlated inversely with CD4 T-cell counts (R = -0.13; P = 0.01). CONCLUSION These significant associations between HIV-1 amino acids adapted to Vietnamese HLA alleles and higher pVL and lower CD4 T-cell counts suggests that accumulation of cytotoxic T cells escape mutations may influence clinical outcomes in HIV-1 subtype A/E-infected Vietnamese individuals.
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Echave J, Spielman SJ, Wilke CO. Causes of evolutionary rate variation among protein sites. Nat Rev Genet 2016; 17:109-21. [PMID: 26781812 DOI: 10.1038/nrg.2015.18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 206] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
It has long been recognized that certain sites within a protein, such as sites in the protein core or catalytic residues in enzymes, are evolutionarily more conserved than other sites. However, our understanding of rate variation among sites remains surprisingly limited. Recent progress to address this includes the development of a wide array of reliable methods to estimate site-specific substitution rates from sequence alignments. In addition, several molecular traits have been identified that correlate with site-specific mutation rates, and novel mechanistic biophysical models have been proposed to explain the observed correlations. Nonetheless, current models explain, at best, approximately 60% of the observed variance, highlighting the limitations of current methods and models and the need for new research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Echave
- Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, 1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Stephanie J Spielman
- Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - Claus O Wilke
- Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
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27
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Hölzemer A, Thobakgale CF, Jimenez Cruz CA, Garcia-Beltran WF, Carlson JM, van Teijlingen NH, Mann JK, Jaggernath M, Kang SG, Körner C, Chung AW, Schafer JL, Evans DT, Alter G, Walker BD, Goulder PJ, Carrington M, Hartmann P, Pertel T, Zhou R, Ndung’u T, Altfeld M. Selection of an HLA-C*03:04-Restricted HIV-1 p24 Gag Sequence Variant Is Associated with Viral Escape from KIR2DL3+ Natural Killer Cells: Data from an Observational Cohort in South Africa. PLoS Med 2015; 12:e1001900; discussion e1001900. [PMID: 26575988 PMCID: PMC4648589 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 10/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses can evade immune surveillance, but the underlying mechanisms are insufficiently understood. Here, we sought to understand the mechanisms by which natural killer (NK) cells recognize HIV-1-infected cells and how this virus can evade NK-cell-mediated immune pressure. METHODS AND FINDINGS Two sequence mutations in p24 Gag associated with the presence of specific KIR/HLA combined genotypes were identified in HIV-1 clade C viruses from a large cohort of infected, untreated individuals in South Africa (n = 392), suggesting viral escape from KIR+ NK cells through sequence variations within HLA class I-presented epitopes. One sequence polymorphism at position 303 of p24 Gag (TGag303V), selected for in infected individuals with both KIR2DL3 and HLA-C*03:04, enabled significantly better binding of the inhibitory KIR2DL3 receptor to HLA-C*03:04-expressing cells presenting this variant epitope compared to the wild-type epitope (wild-type mean 18.01 ± 10.45 standard deviation [SD] and variant mean 44.67 ± 14.42 SD, p = 0.002). Furthermore, activation of primary KIR2DL3+ NK cells from healthy donors in response to HLA-C*03:04+ target cells presenting the variant epitope was significantly reduced in comparison to cells presenting the wild-type sequence (wild-type mean 0.78 ± 0.07 standard error of the mean [SEM] and variant mean 0.63 ± 0.07 SEM, p = 0.012). Structural modeling and surface plasmon resonance of KIR/peptide/HLA interactions in the context of the different viral sequence variants studied supported these results. Future studies will be needed to assess processing and antigen presentation of the investigated HIV-1 epitope in natural infection, and the consequences for viral control. CONCLUSIONS These data provide novel insights into how viruses can evade NK cell immunity through the selection of mutations in HLA-presented epitopes that enhance binding to inhibitory NK cell receptors. Better understanding of the mechanisms by which HIV-1 evades NK-cell-mediated immune pressure and the functional validation of a structural modeling approach will facilitate the development of novel targeted immune interventions to harness the antiviral activities of NK cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelique Hölzemer
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany
- First Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg—Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christina F. Thobakgale
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Camilo A. Jimenez Cruz
- Computational Biology Center, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States of America
| | | | | | | | - Jaclyn K. Mann
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Manjeetha Jaggernath
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Seung-gu Kang
- Computational Biology Center, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States of America
| | - Christian Körner
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Amy W. Chung
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Jamie L. Schafer
- Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Division of Microbiology, New England Primate Research Center, Southborough, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - David T. Evans
- Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Division of Microbiology, New England Primate Research Center, Southborough, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Galit Alter
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Bruce D. Walker
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Philip J. Goulder
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Carrington
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Leidos Biomedical Research, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Pia Hartmann
- First Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Thomas Pertel
- Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Ruhong Zhou
- Computational Biology Center, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States of America
| | - Thumbi Ndung’u
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
- KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Marcus Altfeld
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany
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Distinct Escape Pathway by Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1a from a Dominant CD8+ T Cell Response by Selection of Altered Epitope Processing. J Virol 2015; 90:33-42. [PMID: 26446603 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01993-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2015] [Accepted: 10/01/2015] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Antiviral CD8(+) T cells are a key component of the adaptive immune response against HCV, but their impact on viral control is influenced by preexisting viral variants in important target epitopes and the development of viral escape mutations. Immunodominant epitopes highly conserved across genotypes therefore are attractive for T cell based prophylactic vaccines. Here, we characterized the CD8(+) T cell response against the highly conserved HLA-B*51-restricted epitope IPFYGKAI1373-1380 located in the helicase domain of NS3 in people who inject drugs (PWID) exposed predominantly to HCV genotypes 1a and 3a. Despite this epitope being conserved in both genotypes, the corresponding CD8(+) T cell response was detected only in PWID infected with genotype 3a and HCV-RNA negative PWID, but not in PWID infected with genotype 1a. In genotype 3a, the detection of strong CD8(+) T cell responses was associated with epitope variants in the autologous virus consistent with immune escape. Analysis of viral sequences from multiple cohorts confirmed HLA-B*51-associated escape mutations inside the epitope in genotype 3a, but not in genotype 1a. Here, a distinct substitution in the N-terminal flanking region located 5 residues upstream of the epitope (S1368P; P = 0.00002) was selected in HLA-B*51-positive individuals. Functional assays revealed that the S1368P substitution impaired recognition of target cells presenting the endogenously processed epitope. The results highlight that, despite an epitope being highly conserved between two genotypes, there are major differences in the selected viral escape pathways and the corresponding T cell responses. IMPORTANCE HCV is able to evolutionary adapt to CD8(+) T cell immune pressure in multiple ways. Beyond selection of mutations inside targeted epitopes, this study demonstrates that HCV inhibits epitope processing by modification of the epitope flanking region under T cell immune pressure. Selection of a substitution five amino acids upstream of the epitope underlines that efficient antigen presentation strongly depends on its larger sequence context and that blocking of the multistep process of antigen processing by mutation is exploited also by HCV. The pathways to mutational escape of HCV are to some extent predictable but are distinct in different genotypes. Importantly, the selected escape pathway of HCV may have consequences for the destiny of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells.
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HLA Class-II Associated HIV Polymorphisms Predict Escape from CD4+ T Cell Responses. PLoS Pathog 2015; 11:e1005111. [PMID: 26302050 PMCID: PMC4547780 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Antiretroviral therapy, antibody and CD8+ T cell-mediated responses targeting human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) exert selection pressure on the virus necessitating escape; however, the ability of CD4+ T cells to exert selective pressure remains unclear. Using a computational approach on HIV gag/pol/nef sequences and HLA-II allelic data, we identified 29 HLA-II associated HIV sequence polymorphisms or adaptations (HLA-AP) in an African cohort of chronically HIV-infected individuals. Epitopes encompassing the predicted adaptation (AE) or its non-adapted (NAE) version were evaluated for immunogenicity. Using a CD8-depleted IFN-γ ELISpot assay, we determined that the magnitude of CD4+ T cell responses to the predicted epitopes in controllers was higher compared to non-controllers (p<0.0001). However, regardless of the group, the magnitude of responses to AE was lower as compared to NAE (p<0.0001). CD4+ T cell responses in patients with acute HIV infection (AHI) demonstrated poor immunogenicity towards AE as compared to NAE encoded by their transmitted founder virus. Longitudinal data in AHI off antiretroviral therapy demonstrated sequence changes that were biologically confirmed to represent CD4+ escape mutations. These data demonstrate an innovative application of HLA-associated polymorphisms to identify biologically relevant CD4+ epitopes and suggests CD4+ T cells are active participants in driving HIV evolution. In HIV, CD4+ T cells are best known as the primary targets of infection. Although emerging data has suggested a more active role in viral pathogenesis, the CD4+ T cell population remains relatively understudied. Using a novel computational approach, we predicted 29 different epitopes with mutations that potentially represent escape from CD4+ T cell responses. The predicted escaped epitopes were found to be less immunogenic than the wild type forms, suggesting that the identified escapes allow HIV to reduce its visibility to the immune system. Using longitudinal samples, we were able to show CD4+ T cells driving viral escape following acute infection. Overall, these findings significantly expand our knowledge of how CD4+ T cells can exert HIV control and influence HIV evolution, providing important implications to future vaccine development strategies.
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30
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Shytaj IL, Savarino A. Cell-mediated anti-Gag immunity in pharmacologically induced functional cure of simian AIDS: a 'bottleneck effect'? J Med Primatol 2015; 44:227-40. [PMID: 26058990 DOI: 10.1111/jmp.12176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/11/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Administration of antiretroviral therapy and two experimental drugs, auranofin and buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), was previously shown to be followed by drug-free control of chronic SIVmac251 infection, decreased immune activation and increased cell-mediated anti-Gag responses. METHODS Phylogeny was analysed with Phylogeny.fr. Entropy was calculated with the specific tool of the HIV Sequence Database. The capsid Gag structure was computed using SPDBV. The bottleneck effect was simulated through an appropriate online tool. RESULTS The region of Gag predominantly targeted during control of SIVmac251 infection is highly conserved in primate lentiviruses and plays an important role in capsid architecture. Computer-aided simulations support the view that the preferential development of immune responses against this region is derived from a 'bottleneck effect' after restriction, by auranofin and BSO, of the activated lymphocyte pool. CONCLUSIONS Restriction of immune activation through auranofin/BSO may result in stochastic selection of cell clones targeting conserved epitopes leading to a functional cure-like condition.
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Flynn WF, Chang MW, Tan Z, Oliveira G, Yuan J, Okulicz JF, Torbett BE, Levy RM. Deep sequencing of protease inhibitor resistant HIV patient isolates reveals patterns of correlated mutations in Gag and protease. PLoS Comput Biol 2015; 11:e1004249. [PMID: 25894830 PMCID: PMC4404092 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2014] [Accepted: 03/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
While the role of drug resistance mutations in HIV protease has been studied comprehensively, mutations in its substrate, Gag, have not been extensively cataloged. Using deep sequencing, we analyzed a unique collection of longitudinal viral samples from 93 patients who have been treated with therapies containing protease inhibitors (PIs). Due to the high sequence coverage within each sample, the frequencies of mutations at individual positions were calculated with high precision. We used this information to characterize the variability in the Gag polyprotein and its effects on PI-therapy outcomes. To examine covariation of mutations between two different sites using deep sequencing data, we developed an approach to estimate the tight bounds on the two-site bivariate probabilities in each viral sample, and the mutual information between pairs of positions based on all the bounds. Utilizing the new methodology we found that mutations in the matrix and p6 proteins contribute to continued therapy failure and have a major role in the network of strongly correlated mutations in the Gag polyprotein, as well as between Gag and protease. Although covariation is not direct evidence of structural propensities, we found the strongest correlations between residues on capsid and matrix of the same Gag protein were often due to structural proximity. This suggests that some of the strongest inter-protein Gag correlations are the result of structural proximity. Moreover, the strong covariation between residues in matrix and capsid at the N-terminus with p1 and p6 at the C-terminus is consistent with residue-residue contacts between these proteins at some point in the viral life cycle. Understanding the structure of HIV proteins and the function of drug-resistant mutations of these proteins is critical for the development of effective HIV treatments. Selected gag mutations have been shown to provide compensatory functions for protease resistance mutations and may directly contribute to the development of drug resistance. To determine associations between protease inhibitor mutations and gag, we utilized deep sequencing of HIV gag and protease from a collection of viral isolates from patients treated with highly active retroviral protease inhibitors. Deep sequencing allows for accurate measurement of mutation frequencies at each position, allowing estimation, using a novel method we developed, of the covariation between any two residues on gag. Using this information, we characterize the variation within gag and protease and identify the most strongly correlated pairs of inter- and intra-protein residues. Our results suggest that matrix and p1/p6 mutations form the core of a network of strongly correlated gag mutations and contribute to recurrent treatment failure. Extracting gag residue covariation information from the deep sequencing of patient viral samples may provide insight into structural aspects of the Gag polyprotein as well new areas for small molecule targeting to disrupt Gag function.
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Affiliation(s)
- William F. Flynn
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Max W. Chang
- Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Zhiqiang Tan
- Department of Statistics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Glenn Oliveira
- Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Jinyun Yuan
- Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Jason F. Okulicz
- Infectious Disease Service, San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Bruce E. Torbett
- Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
- * E-mail: (BET); (RML)
| | - Ronald M. Levy
- Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Department of Chemistry, and Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail: (BET); (RML)
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High frequency of transmitted HIV-1 Gag HLA class I-driven immune escape variants but minimal immune selection over the first year of clade C infection. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0119886. [PMID: 25781986 PMCID: PMC4363590 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In chronic HIV infection, CD8+ T cell responses to Gag are associated with lower viral loads, but longitudinal studies of HLA-restricted CD8+ T cell-driven selection pressure in Gag from the time of acute infection are limited. In this study we examined Gag sequence evolution over the first year of infection in 22 patients identified prior to seroconversion. A total of 310 and 337 full-length Gag sequences from the earliest available samples (median = 14 days after infection [Fiebig stage I/II]) and at one-year post infection respectively were generated. Six of 22 (27%) individuals were infected with multiple variants. There was a trend towards early intra-patient viral sequence diversity correlating with viral load set point (p = 0.07, r = 0.39). At 14 days post infection, 59.7% of Gag CTL epitopes contained non-consensus polymorphisms and over half of these (35.3%) comprised of previously described CTL escape variants. Consensus and variant CTL epitope proportions were equally distributed irrespective of the selecting host HLA allele and most epitopes remained unchanged over 12 months post infection. These data suggest that intrapatient diversity during acute infection is an indicator of disease outcome. In this setting, there is a high rate of transmitted CTL escape variants and limited immune selection in Gag during the first year of infection. These data have relevance for vaccine strategies designed to elicit effective CD8+ T cell immune responses.
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Bet A, Maze EA, Bansal A, Sterrett S, Gross A, Graff-Dubois S, Samri A, Guihot A, Katlama C, Theodorou I, Mesnard JM, Moris A, Goepfert PA, Cardinaud S. The HIV-1 antisense protein (ASP) induces CD8 T cell responses during chronic infection. Retrovirology 2015; 12:15. [PMID: 25809376 PMCID: PMC4335690 DOI: 10.1186/s12977-015-0135-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 01/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background CD8+ T cells recognize HIV-1 epitopes translated from a gene’s primary reading frame (F1) and any one of its five alternative reading frames (ARFs) in the forward (F2, F3) or reverse (R1-3) directions. The 3’ end of HIV-1’s proviral coding strand contains a conserved sequence that is directly overlapping but antiparallel to the env gene (ARF R2) and encodes for a putative antisense HIV-1 protein called ASP. ASP expression has been demonstrated in vitro using HIV-transfected cell lines or infected cells. Although antibodies to ASP were previously detected in patient sera, T cell recognition of ASP-derived epitopes has not been evaluated. We therefore investigated the ex vivo and in vitro induction of ASP-specific T cell responses as a measure of immune recognition and protein expression during HIV-1 infection. Results A panel of overlapping peptides was initially designed from the full-length ASP sequence to perform a global assessment of T cell responses. Recognition of ASP-derived antigens was evaluated in an IFN-γELISpot assay using PBMCs from HIV-1 seropositive and seronegative individuals. Eight of 25 patients had positive responses to ASP antigens and none of the seronegative donors responded. As a complimentary approach, a second set of antigens was designed using HLA-I binding motifs and affinities. Two ASP-derived peptides with high predicted binding affinities for HLA-A*02 (ASP-YL9) and HLA-B*07 (ASP-TL10) were tested using PBMCs from HIV-1 seropositive and seronegative individuals who expressed the matching HLA-I-restricting allele. We found that HLA-I-restricted ASP peptides were only recognized by CD8+ T cells from patients with the relevant HLA-I and did not induce responses in any of the seronegative donors or patients who do not express the restrictive HLA alleles. Further, ASP-YL9-specific CD8+ T cells had functional profiles that were similar to a previously described HLA-A*02-restricted epitope (Gag-SL9). Specific recognition of ASP-YL9 by CD8+ T cells was also demonstrated by tetramer staining using cells from an HLA-A*02 HIV-infected patient. Conclusion Our results provide the first description of CD8+ T cell-mediated immune responses to ASP in HIV-1-infected patients, demonstrating that ASP is expressed during infection. Our identification of epitopes within ASP has implications for designing HIV vaccines. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12977-015-0135-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Ozahata MC, Sabino EC, Diaz RS, Cesar RM, Ferreira JE. Data-intensive analysis of HIV mutations. BMC Bioinformatics 2015; 16:35. [PMID: 25652056 PMCID: PMC4344997 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-015-0452-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2013] [Accepted: 01/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In this study, clustering was performed using a bitmap representation of HIV reverse transcriptase and protease sequences, to produce an unsupervised classification of HIV sequences. The classification will aid our understanding of the interactions between mutations and drug resistance. 10,229 HIV genomic sequences from the protease and reverse transcriptase regions of the pol gene and antiretroviral resistant related mutations represented in an 82-dimensional binary vector space were analyzed. RESULTS A new cluster representation was proposed using an image inspired by microarray data, such that the rows in the image represented the protein sequences from the genotype data and the columns represented presence or absence of mutations in each protein position.The visualization of the clusters showed that some mutations frequently occur together and are probably related to an epistatic phenomenon. CONCLUSION We described a methodology based on the application of a pattern recognition algorithm using binary data to suggest clusters of mutations that can easily be discriminated by cluster viewing schemes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mina Cintho Ozahata
- Department of Computer Science - DCC, University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 1010, CEP 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
| | - Ester Cerdeira Sabino
- Sangue Foundation, Health State Secretary, Department of Molecular Biology, Serology Division, Av Dr Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, Cerqueira Cesar, CEP 05403-000 São Paulo, 155, SP, Brazil.
| | - Ricardo Sobhie Diaz
- Federal University of São Paulo, Rua Pedro de Toledo, São Paulo, 669, CEP 04039-032, SP, Brazil.
| | - Roberto M Cesar
- Department of Computer Science - DCC, University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 1010, CEP 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
| | - João Eduardo Ferreira
- Sangue Foundation, Health State Secretary, Department of Molecular Biology, Serology Division, Av Dr Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, Cerqueira Cesar, CEP 05403-000 São Paulo, 155, SP, Brazil.
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Carlson JM, Le AQ, Shahid A, Brumme ZL. HIV-1 adaptation to HLA: a window into virus-host immune interactions. Trends Microbiol 2015; 23:212-24. [PMID: 25613992 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2014.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2014] [Revised: 12/04/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
HIV-1 develops specific mutations within its genome that allow it to escape detection by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-restricted immune responses, notably those of CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). HLA thus represents a major force driving the evolution and diversification of HIV-1 within individuals and at the population level. Importantly, the study of HIV-1 adaptation to HLA also represents an opportunity to identify what qualities constitute an effective immune response, how the virus in turn adapts to these pressures, and how we may harness this information to design HIV-1 vaccines that stimulate effective cellular immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anh Q Le
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Aniqa Shahid
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Zabrina L Brumme
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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Li G, Theys K, Verheyen J, Pineda-Peña AC, Khouri R, Piampongsant S, Eusébio M, Ramon J, Vandamme AM. A new ensemble coevolution system for detecting HIV-1 protein coevolution. Biol Direct 2015; 10:1. [PMID: 25564011 PMCID: PMC4332441 DOI: 10.1186/s13062-014-0031-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2014] [Accepted: 12/02/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A key challenge in the field of HIV-1 protein evolution is the identification of coevolving amino acids at the molecular level. In the past decades, many sequence-based methods have been designed to detect position-specific coevolution within and between different proteins. However, an ensemble coevolution system that integrates different methods to improve the detection of HIV-1 protein coevolution has not been developed. RESULTS We integrated 27 sequence-based prediction methods published between 2004 and 2013 into an ensemble coevolution system. This system allowed combinations of different sequence-based methods for coevolution predictions. Using HIV-1 protein structures and experimental data, we evaluated the performance of individual and combined sequence-based methods in the prediction of HIV-1 intra- and inter-protein coevolution. We showed that sequence-based methods clustered according to their methodology, and a combination of four methods outperformed any of the 27 individual methods. This four-method combination estimated that HIV-1 intra-protein coevolving positions were mainly located in functional domains and physically contacted with each other in the protein tertiary structures. In the analysis of HIV-1 inter-protein coevolving positions between Gag and protease, protease drug resistance positions near the active site mostly coevolved with Gag cleavage positions (V128, S373-T375, A431, F448-P453) and Gag C-terminal positions (S489-Q500) under selective pressure of protease inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS This study presents a new ensemble coevolution system which detects position-specific coevolution using combinations of 27 different sequence-based methods. Our findings highlight key coevolving residues within HIV-1 structural proteins and between Gag and protease, shedding light on HIV-1 intra- and inter-protein coevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangdi Li
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Kristof Theys
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Jens Verheyen
- Institute of Virology, University hospital, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
| | - Andrea-Clemencia Pineda-Peña
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium. .,Clinical and Molecular Infectious Disease Group, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
| | - Ricardo Khouri
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Supinya Piampongsant
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Mónica Eusébio
- Centro de Malária e Outras Doenças Tropicais and Unidade de Microbiologia, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Jan Ramon
- Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Anne-Mieke Vandamme
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium. .,Centro de Malária e Outras Doenças Tropicais and Unidade de Microbiologia, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
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Payne R, Muenchhoff M, Mann J, Roberts HE, Matthews P, Adland E, Hempenstall A, Huang KH, Brockman M, Brumme Z, Sinclair M, Miura T, Frater J, Essex M, Shapiro R, Walker BD, Ndung'u T, McLean AR, Carlson JM, Goulder PJR. Impact of HLA-driven HIV adaptation on virulence in populations of high HIV seroprevalence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:E5393-400. [PMID: 25453107 PMCID: PMC4273423 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1413339111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
It is widely believed that epidemics in new hosts diminish in virulence over time, with natural selection favoring pathogens that cause minimal disease. However, a tradeoff frequently exists between high virulence shortening host survival on the one hand but allowing faster transmission on the other. This is the case in HIV infection, where high viral loads increase transmission risk per coital act but reduce host longevity. We here investigate the impact on HIV virulence of HIV adaptation to HLA molecules that protect against disease progression, such as HLA-B*57 and HLA-B*58:01. We analyzed cohorts in Botswana and South Africa, two countries severely affected by the HIV epidemic. In Botswana, where the epidemic started earlier and adult seroprevalence has been higher, HIV adaptation to HLA including HLA-B*57/58:01 is greater compared with South Africa (P = 7 × 10(-82)), the protective effect of HLA-B*57/58:01 is absent (P = 0.0002), and population viral replicative capacity is lower (P = 0.03). These data suggest that viral evolution is occurring relatively rapidly, and that adaptation of HIV to the most protective HLA alleles may contribute to a lowering of viral replication capacity at the population level, and a consequent reduction in HIV virulence over time. The potential role in this process played by increasing antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is also explored. Models developed here suggest distinct benefits of ART, in addition to reducing HIV disease and transmission, in driving declines in HIV virulence over the course of the epidemic, thereby accelerating the effects of HLA-mediated viral adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Payne
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jaclyn Mann
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa
| | - Hannah E Roberts
- The Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, United Kingdom; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Philippa Matthews
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Emily Adland
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Allison Hempenstall
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Kuan-Hsiang Huang
- The Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, United Kingdom; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Brockman
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V5A 1S6, Canada; British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada
| | - Zabrina Brumme
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V5A 1S6, Canada; British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada
| | - Marc Sinclair
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | | | - John Frater
- The Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, United Kingdom; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom; Oxford National Institute of Health Research, Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom
| | - Myron Essex
- Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone BO 320, Botswana; Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215
| | - Roger Shapiro
- Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone BO 320, Botswana; Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215
| | - Bruce D Walker
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa; Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02139
| | - Thumbi Ndung'u
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa; Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02139
| | - Angela R McLean
- The Institute for Emerging Infections, The Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, United Kingdom; Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom; and
| | | | - Philip J R Goulder
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom; HIV Pathogenesis Programme, The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa;
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Zolla-Pazner S, Edlefsen PT, Rolland M, Kong XP, deCamp A, Gottardo R, Williams C, Tovanabutra S, Sharpe-Cohen S, Mullins JI, deSouza MS, Karasavvas N, Nitayaphan S, Rerks-Ngarm S, Pitisuttihum P, Kaewkungwal J, O'Connell RJ, Robb ML, Michael NL, Kim JH, Gilbert P. Vaccine-induced Human Antibodies Specific for the Third Variable Region of HIV-1 gp120 Impose Immune Pressure on Infecting Viruses. EBioMedicine 2014; 1:37-45. [PMID: 25599085 PMCID: PMC4293639 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2014.10.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
To evaluate the role of V3-specific IgG antibodies (Abs) in the RV144 clinical HIV vaccine trial, which reduced HIV-1 infection by 31.2%, the anti-V3 Ab response was assessed. Vaccinees' V3 Abs were highly cross-reactive with cyclic V3 peptides (cV3s) from diverse virus subtypes. Sieve analysis of CRF01_AE breakthrough viruses from 43 vaccine- and 66 placebo-recipients demonstrated an estimated vaccine efficacy of 85% against viruses with amino acids mismatching the vaccine at V3 site 317 (p = 0.004) and 52% against viruses matching the vaccine at V3 site 307 (p = 0.004). This analysis was supported by data showing that vaccinees' plasma Abs were less reactive with I307 when replaced with residues found more often in vaccinees' breakthrough viruses. Simultaneously, viruses with mutations at F317 were less infectious, possibly due to the contribution of F317 to optimal formation of the V3 hydrophobic core. These data suggest that RV144-induced V3-specific Abs imposed immune pressure on infecting viruses and inform efforts to design an HIV vaccine. The RV144 vaccine reduced infection by viruses with isoleucine in V3 position 307. Many vaccine-induced antibodies are cross-reactive and target an epitope including I307. There was selection for breakthrough viruses carrying F317 in V3 (p = 0.004). F317 is needed to maintain optimal infectivity. F317 is a poor or non-contact residue for vaccine induced V3 antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan Zolla-Pazner
- New York Veterans Affairs Harbor Healthcare System, 423 East 23 Street, New York, NY 10010, USA ; New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Paul T Edlefsen
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., M2-C200, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Morgane Rolland
- Department of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Building 503, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Xiang-Peng Kong
- New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Allan deCamp
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., M2-C200, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Raphael Gottardo
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., M2-C200, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Constance Williams
- New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Sodsai Tovanabutra
- Department of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Building 503, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Sandra Sharpe-Cohen
- New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - James I Mullins
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, 358B Rosen Building, Campus box 358070, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Mark S deSouza
- Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center 104, Tower 2, Rajdumari Rd. Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand, 10330
| | - Nicos Karasavvas
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS) Department of Retrovirology Humoral Immunology and Assessment Laboratory, 315/6 Rajvithi Rd. Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Sorachai Nitayaphan
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS) Department of Retrovirology Humoral Immunology and Assessment Laboratory, 315/6 Rajvithi Rd. Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Supachai Rerks-Ngarm
- Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, 11000, Thailand
| | - Punnee Pitisuttihum
- Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Ratchawithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Jaranit Kaewkungwal
- Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Ratchawithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Robert J O'Connell
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS) Department of Retrovirology Humoral Immunology and Assessment Laboratory, 315/6 Rajvithi Rd. Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Merlin L Robb
- U.S. Army Military HIV Research Program, 6720A Rockledge Dr., Suite 400, Bethesda MD, 20817
| | - Nelson L Michael
- U.S. Army Military HIV Research Program, 6720A Rockledge Dr., Suite 400, Bethesda MD, 20817
| | - Jerome H Kim
- U.S. Army Military HIV Research Program, 6720A Rockledge Dr., Suite 400, Bethesda MD, 20817
| | - Peter Gilbert
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., M2-C200, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
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CD8 and CD4 epitope predictions in RV144: no strong evidence of a T-cell driven sieve effect in HIV-1 breakthrough sequences from trial participants. PLoS One 2014; 9:e111334. [PMID: 25350851 PMCID: PMC4211711 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2014] [Accepted: 09/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The modest protection afforded by the RV144 vaccine offers an opportunity to evaluate its mechanisms of protection. Differences between HIV-1 breakthrough viruses from vaccine and placebo recipients can be attributed to the RV144 vaccine as this was a randomized and double-blinded trial. CD8 and CD4 T cell epitope repertoires were predicted in HIV-1 proteomes from 110 RV144 participants. Predicted Gag epitope repertoires were smaller in vaccine than in placebo recipients (p = 0.019). After comparing participant-derived epitopes to corresponding epitopes in the RV144 vaccine, the proportion of epitopes that could be matched differed depending on the protein conservation (only 36% of epitopes in Env vs 84–91% in Gag/Pol/Nef for CD8 predicted epitopes) or on vaccine insert subtype (55% against CRF01_AE vs 7% against subtype B). To compare predicted epitopes to the vaccine, we analyzed predicted binding affinity and evolutionary distance measurements. Comparisons between the vaccine and placebo arm did not reveal robust evidence for a T cell driven sieve effect, although some differences were noted in Env-V2 (0.022≤p-value≤0.231). The paucity of CD8 T cell responses identified following RV144 vaccination, with no evidence for V2 specificity, considered together both with the association of decreased infection risk in RV 144 participants with V-specific antibody responses and a V2 sieve effect, lead us to hypothesize that this sieve effect was not T cell specific. Overall, our results did not reveal a strong differential impact of vaccine-induced T cell responses among breakthrough infections in RV144 participants.
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Martin E, Carlson JM, Le AQ, Chopera DR, McGovern R, Rahman MA, Ng C, Jessen H, Kelleher AD, Markowitz M, Allen TM, Milloy MJ, Carrington M, Wainberg MA, Brumme ZL. Early immune adaptation in HIV-1 revealed by population-level approaches. Retrovirology 2014; 11:64. [PMID: 25212686 PMCID: PMC4190299 DOI: 10.1186/s12977-014-0064-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2014] [Accepted: 07/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The reproducible nature of HIV-1 escape from HLA-restricted CD8+ T-cell responses allows the identification of HLA-associated viral polymorphisms "at the population level" - that is, via analysis of cross-sectional, linked HLA/HIV-1 genotypes by statistical association. However, elucidating their timing of selection traditionally requires detailed longitudinal studies, which are challenging to undertake on a large scale. We investigate whether the extent and relative timecourse of immune-driven HIV adaptation can be inferred via comparative cross-sectional analysis of independent early and chronic infection cohorts. RESULTS Similarly-powered datasets of linked HLA/HIV-1 genotypes from individuals with early (median < 3 months) and chronic untreated HIV-1 subtype B infection, matched for size (N > 200/dataset), HLA class I and HIV-1 Gag/Pol/Nef diversity, were established. These datasets were first used to define a list of 162 known HLA-associated polymorphisms detectable at the population level in cohorts of the present size and host/viral genetic composition. Of these 162 known HLA-associated polymorphisms, 15% (occurring at 14 Gag, Pol and Nef codons) were already detectable via statistical association in the early infection dataset at p ≤ 0.01 (q < 0.2) - identifying them as the most consistently rapidly escaping sites in HIV-1. Among these were known rapidly-escaping sites (e.g. B*57-Gag-T242N) and others not previously appreciated to be reproducibly rapidly selected (e.g. A*31:01-associated adaptations at Gag codons 397, 401 and 403). Escape prevalence in early infection correlated strongly with first-year escape rates (Pearson's R = 0.68, p = 0.0001), supporting cross-sectional parameters as reliable indicators of longitudinally-derived measures. Comparative analysis of early and chronic datasets revealed that, on average, the prevalence of HLA-associated polymorphisms more than doubles between these two infection stages in persons harboring the relevant HLA (p < 0.0001, consistent with frequent and reproducible escape), but remains relatively stable in persons lacking the HLA (p = 0.15, consistent with slow reversion). Published HLA-specific Hazard Ratios for progression to AIDS correlated positively with average escape prevalence in early infection (Pearson's R = 0.53, p = 0.028), consistent with high early within-host HIV-1 adaptation (via rapid escape and/or frequent polymorphism transmission) as a correlate of progression. CONCLUSION Cross-sectional host/viral genotype datasets represent an underutilized resource to identify reproducible early pathways of HIV-1 adaptation and identify correlates of protective immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Martin
- />Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada
- />British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC Canada
| | | | - Anh Q Le
- />Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada
| | - Denis R Chopera
- />Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada
- />KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Rachel McGovern
- />British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC Canada
| | - Manal A Rahman
- />Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada
| | - Carmond Ng
- />British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC Canada
| | | | | | - Martin Markowitz
- />Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY USA
| | - Todd M Allen
- />Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - M-J Milloy
- />British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC Canada
- />Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada
| | - Mary Carrington
- />Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA
- />Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD USA
| | | | - Zabrina L Brumme
- />Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada
- />British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC Canada
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Carlson JM, Schaefer M, Monaco DC, Batorsky R, Claiborne DT, Prince J, Deymier MJ, Ende ZS, Klatt NR, DeZiel CE, Lin TH, Peng J, Seese AM, Shapiro R, Frater J, Ndung'u T, Tang J, Goepfert P, Gilmour J, Price MA, Kilembe W, Heckerman D, Goulder PJR, Allen TM, Allen S, Hunter E. HIV transmission. Selection bias at the heterosexual HIV-1 transmission bottleneck. Science 2014; 345:1254031. [PMID: 25013080 DOI: 10.1126/science.1254031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 195] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 typically results in one genetic variant establishing systemic infection. We compared, for 137 linked transmission pairs, the amino acid sequences encoded by non-envelope genes of viruses in both partners and demonstrate a selection bias for transmission of residues that are predicted to confer increased in vivo fitness on viruses in the newly infected, immunologically naïve recipient. Although tempered by transmission risk factors, such as donor viral load, genital inflammation, and recipient gender, this selection bias provides an overall transmission advantage for viral quasispecies that are dominated by viruses with high in vivo fitness. Thus, preventative or therapeutic approaches that even marginally reduce viral fitness may lower the overall transmission rates and offer long-term benefits even upon successful transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Malinda Schaefer
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Daniela C Monaco
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Rebecca Batorsky
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02114, USA
| | - Daniel T Claiborne
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Jessica Prince
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Martin J Deymier
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Zachary S Ende
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Nichole R Klatt
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | | | | | - Jian Peng
- Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA 98052, USA
| | - Aaron M Seese
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02114, USA
| | - Roger Shapiro
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - John Frater
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 7BN, UK. National Institute of Health Research, Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK. Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, UK
| | - Thumbi Ndung'u
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02114, USA. HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa. Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jianming Tang
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
| | - Paul Goepfert
- Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
| | - Jill Gilmour
- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, London SW10 9NH, UK. Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, London SW10 9NH, UK
| | - Matt A Price
- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
| | - William Kilembe
- Rwanda-Zambia HIV Research Group: Zambia-Emory HIV Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia
| | | | - Philip J R Goulder
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa. Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Todd M Allen
- Rwanda-Zambia HIV Research Group: Zambia-Emory HIV Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Susan Allen
- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. Microsoft Research, Los Angeles, CA 98117, USA. Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Eric Hunter
- Emory Vaccine Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. Rwanda-Zambia HIV Research Group: Zambia-Emory HIV Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
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Kløverpris HN, Adland E, Koyanagi M, Stryhn A, Harndahl M, Matthews PC, Shapiro R, Walker BD, Ndung'u T, Brander C, Takiguchi M, Buus S, Goulder P. HIV subtype influences HLA-B*07:02-associated HIV disease outcome. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2014; 30:468-75. [PMID: 24010680 DOI: 10.1089/aid.2013.0197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic polymorphisms within the MHC encoding region have the strongest impact on HIV disease progression of any in the human genome and provide important clues to the mechanisms of HIV immune control. Few analyses have been undertaken of HLA alleles associated with rapid disease progression. HLA-B*07:02 is an HLA class I molecule that is prevalent in most populations worldwide and that has previously been consistently linked to accelerated disease progression in B-clade infection. This study investigates the observation that HLA-B*07:02 is not associated with a high viral setpoint in C-clade infection. We examine the hypothesis that this clade-specific difference in association with disease outcome may be related to distinct targeting of CD8(+) T cell epitopes. We observed that C-clade-infected individuals with HLA-B*07:02 target a broader range of Gag epitopes, and to higher magnitudes, than do individuals infected with B-clade infection. In particular, a novel p17-Gag (Gag22-30, RPGGKKHYM) epitope is targeted in >50% of HLA-B*07:02-positive C-clade-infected individuals but clade-specific differences in this epitope result in nonimmunogenicity in B-clade infection. Only the C-clade p24-Gag "GL9" (Gag355-363, GPSHKARVL) epitope-specific CD8(+) T cell response out of 16 studied was associated with a low viral setpoint. Although this epitope was also targeted in B-clade infection, the escape mutant S357S is present at higher frequency in B-clade infection than in C-clade infection (70% versus 43% in HLA-B*07:02-negative subjects). These data support earlier studies suggesting that increased breadth of the Gag-specific CD8(+) T cell response may contribute to improved HIV immune control irrespective of the particular HLA molecules expressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henrik N. Kløverpris
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, K-RITH, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Emily Adland
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Madoka Koyanagi
- Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Anette Stryhn
- Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mikkel Harndahl
- Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Roger Shapiro
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Bruce D. Walker
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland
| | - Thumbi Ndung'u
- KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, K-RITH, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christian Brander
- Irsicaixa AIDS Research Institute–HIVACAT, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias y Pujol, Badalona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Søren Buus
- Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Philip Goulder
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
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HLA-B*35: 05 is a protective allele with a unique structure among HIV-1 CRF01_AE-infected Thais, in whom the B*57 frequency is low. AIDS 2014; 28:959-67. [PMID: 24566094 DOI: 10.1097/qad.0000000000000206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To identify protective human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles in an HIV-infected south-east Asian population, in whom HLA-B*57 prevalence is lower than other ethnic groups, and HIV-1 CRF01_AE is the dominant circulating subtype. DESIGN Cross-sectional study of Thai patients with chronic HIV infection. METHODS Five hundred and fifty-seven HIV-1 CRF01_AE-infected Thais were recruited. Their HLA type and viral load were determined to statistically analyze the association of each allele in viral control. In-silico molecular dynamics was also used to evaluate the effect of HLA structure variants on epitope binding. RESULTS HLA-B*35:05 was identified as the most protective allele (P=0.003, q=0.17), along with HLA-B*57:01 (P=0.044, q=0.31). Structurally, HLA-B*35:05 belonged to the HLA-B*35-PY group of HLA-B*35 alleles; however, unlike the other HLA-B*35 alleles that carry Arg (R) at residue 97, it has unique sequences at T94, L95, and S97, located within the peptide-binding groove. Analysis of the three-dimensional HLA structure and molecular dynamics indicates that S97 in HLA-B*35:05 leads to less flexibility in the groove, and shorter distances between the α-helixes compared with the disease-susceptible HLA-B*35-PY allele, HLA-B*35:01. CONCLUSION These data indicate the existence of a protective effect of HLA-B*57 across ethnic groups and highlight HLA-B*35:05 as an allele uniquely protective in subtype CRF01_AE-infected Thais. The divergence of HLA-B*35:05 from conventional HLA-B*35-PY structural sequences at the peptide-binding groove is consistent with previous studies that have identified HLA residue 97 as strongly influential in shaping HLA impact on immune control of HIV, and that a more restricted peptide-binding motif may be associated with improved control.
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Abstract
UNLABELLED The extent to which HIV-1 clade B strains exhibit population-specific adaptations to host HLA alleles remains incompletely known, in part due to incomplete characterization of HLA-associated HIV-1 polymorphisms (HLA-APs) in different global populations. Moreover, it remains unknown to what extent the same HLA alleles may drive significantly different escape pathways across populations. As the Japanese population exhibits distinctive HLA class I allele distributions, comparative analysis of HLA-APs between HIV-1 clade B-infected Japanese and non-Asian cohorts could shed light on these questions. However, HLA-APs remain incompletely mapped in Japan. In a cohort of 430 treatment-naive Japanese with chronic HIV-1 clade B infection, we identified 284 HLA-APs in Gag, Pol, and Nef using phylogenetically corrected methods. The number of HLA-associated substitutions in Pol, notably those restricted by HLA-B*52:01, was weakly inversely correlated with the plasma viral load (pVL), suggesting that the transmission and persistence of B*52:01-driven Pol mutations could modulate the pVL. Differential selection of HLA-APs between HLA subtype members, including those differing only with respect to substitutions outside the peptide-binding groove, was observed, meriting further investigation as to their mechanisms of selection. Notably, two-thirds of HLA-APs identified in Japan had not been reported in previous studies of predominantly Caucasian cohorts and were attributable to HLA alleles unique to, or enriched in, Japan. We also identified 71 cases where the same HLA allele drove significantly different escape pathways in Japan versus predominantly Caucasian cohorts. Our results underscore the distinct global evolution of HIV-1 clade B as a result of host population-specific cellular immune pressures. IMPORTANCE Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) escape mutations in HIV-1 are broadly predictable based on the HLA class I alleles expressed by the host. Because HLA allele distributions differ among worldwide populations, the pattern and diversity of HLA-associated escape mutations are likely to be somewhat distinct to each race and region. HLA-associated polymorphisms (HLA-APs) in HIV-1 have previously been identified at the population level in European, North American, Australian, and African cohorts; however, large-scale analyses of HIV-1 clade B-specific HLA-APs in Asians are lacking. Differential intraclade HIV-1 adaptation to global populations can be investigated via comparative analyses of HLA-associated polymorphisms across ethnic groups, but such studies are rare. Here, we identify HLA-APs in a large Japanese HIV-1 clade B cohort using phylogenetically informed methods and observe that the majority of them had not been previously characterized in predominantly Caucasian populations. The results highlight HIV's unique adaptation to cellular immune pressures imposed by different global populations.
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Differential escape patterns within the dominant HLA-B*57:03-restricted HIV Gag epitope reflect distinct clade-specific functional constraints. J Virol 2014; 88:4668-78. [PMID: 24501417 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.03303-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED HLA-B*57:01 and HLA-B*57:03, the most prevalent HLA-B*57 subtypes in Caucasian and African populations, respectively, are the HLA alleles most protective against HIV disease progression. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this immune control is of critical importance, yet they remain unclear. Unexplained differences are observed in the impact of the dominant cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response restricted by HLA-B*57:01 and HLA-B*57:03 in chronic infection on the Gag epitope KAFSPEVIPMF (KF11; Gag 162 to 172). We previously showed that the HLA-B*57:03-KF11 response is associated with a >1-log-lower viral setpoint in C clade virus infection and that this response selects escape mutants within the epitope. We first examined the relationship of KF11 responses in B clade virus-infected subjects with HLA-B*57:01 to immune control and observed that a detectable KF11 response was associated with a >1-log-higher viral load (P = 0.02). No evidence of HLA-B*57:01-KF11-associated selection pressure was identified in previous comprehensive analyses of >1,800 B clade virus-infected subjects. We then studied a B clade virus-infected cohort in Barbados, where HLA-B*57:03 is highly prevalent. In contrast to findings for B clade virus-infected subjects expressing HLA-B*57:01, we observed strong selection pressure driven by the HLA-B*57:03-KF11 response for the escape mutation S173T. This mutation reduces recognition of virus-infected cells by HLA-B*57:03-KF11 CTLs and is associated with a >1-log increase in viral load in HLA-B*57:03-positive subjects (P = 0.009). We demonstrate functional constraints imposed by HIV clade relating to the residue at Gag 173 that explain the differential clade-specific escape patterns in HLA-B*57:03 subjects. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of the KF11 response in HLA-B*57:01-associated HIV disease protection. IMPORTANCE HLA-B*57 is the HLA class I molecule that affords the greatest protection against disease progression in HIV infection. Understanding the key mechanism(s) underlying immunosuppression of HIV is of importance in guiding therapeutic and vaccine-related approaches to improve the levels of HIV control occurring in nature. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to explain the HLA associations with differential HIV disease outcome, but no consensus exists. These studies focus on two subtypes of HLA-B*57 prevalent in Caucasian and African populations, HLA-B*57:01 and HLA-B*57:03, respectively. These alleles appear equally protective against HIV disease progression. The CTL epitopes presented are in many cases identical, and the dominant response in chronic infection in each case is to the Gag epitope KF11. However, there the similarity ends. This study sought to better understand the reasons for these differences and what they teach us about which immune responses contribute to immune control of HIV infection.
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Increased sequence coverage through combined targeting of variant and conserved epitopes correlates with control of HIV replication. J Virol 2013; 88:1354-65. [PMID: 24227851 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.02361-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A major challenge in the development of an HIV vaccine is that of contending with the extensive sequence variability found in circulating viruses. Induction of HIV-specific T-cell responses targeting conserved regions and induction of HIV-specific T-cell responses recognizing a high number of epitope variants have both been proposed as strategies to overcome this challenge. We addressed the ability of cytotoxic T lymphocytes from 30 untreated HIV-infected subjects with and without control of virus replication to recognize all clade B Gag sequence variants encoded by at least 5% of the sequences in the Los Alamos National Laboratory HIV database (1,300 peptides) using gamma interferon and interleukin-2 (IFN-γ/IL-2) FluoroSpot analysis. While targeting of conserved regions was similar in the two groups (P = 0.47), we found that subjects with control of virus replication demonstrated marginally lower recognition of Gag epitope variants than subjects with normal progression (P = 0.05). In viremic controllers and progressors, we found variant recognition to be associated with viral load (r = 0.62, P = 0.001). Interestingly, we show that increased overall sequence coverage, defined as the overall proportion of HIV database sequences targeted through the Gag-specific repertoire, is inversely associated with viral load (r = -0.38, P = 0.03). Furthermore, we found that sequence coverage, but not variant recognition, correlated with increased recognition of a panel of clade B HIV founder viruses (r = 0.50, P = 0.004). We propose sequence coverage by HIV Gag-specific immune responses as a possible correlate of protection that may contribute to control of virus replication. Additionally, sequence coverage serves as a valuable measure by which to evaluate the protective potential of future vaccination strategies.
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Bartha I, Carlson JM, Brumme CJ, McLaren PJ, Brumme ZL, John M, Haas DW, Martinez-Picado J, Dalmau J, López-Galíndez C, Casado C, Rauch A, Günthard HF, Bernasconi E, Vernazza P, Klimkait T, Yerly S, O'Brien SJ, Listgarten J, Pfeifer N, Lippert C, Fusi N, Kutalik Z, Allen TM, Müller V, Harrigan PR, Heckerman D, Telenti A, Fellay J. A genome-to-genome analysis of associations between human genetic variation, HIV-1 sequence diversity, and viral control. eLife 2013; 2:e01123. [PMID: 24171102 PMCID: PMC3807812 DOI: 10.7554/elife.01123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Accepted: 09/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 sequence diversity is affected by selection pressures arising from host genomic factors. Using paired human and viral data from 1071 individuals, we ran >3000 genome-wide scans, testing for associations between host DNA polymorphisms, HIV-1 sequence variation and plasma viral load (VL), while considering human and viral population structure. We observed significant human SNP associations to a total of 48 HIV-1 amino acid variants (p<2.4 × 10(-12)). All associated SNPs mapped to the HLA class I region. Clinical relevance of host and pathogen variation was assessed using VL results. We identified two critical advantages to the use of viral variation for identifying host factors: (1) association signals are much stronger for HIV-1 sequence variants than VL, reflecting the 'intermediate phenotype' nature of viral variation; (2) association testing can be run without any clinical data. The proposed genome-to-genome approach highlights sites of genomic conflict and is a strategy generally applicable to studies of host-pathogen interaction. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01123.001.
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Affiliation(s)
- István Bartha
- School of Life Sciences , École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Lausanne , Switzerland ; Institute of Microbiology , University Hospital and University of Lausanne , Lausanne , Switzerland ; Research Group of Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology , Eötvös Loránd University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Budapest , Hungary ; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics , Lausanne , Switzerland
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Adland E, Carlson JM, Paioni P, Kløverpris H, Shapiro R, Ogwu A, Riddell L, Luzzi G, Chen F, Balachandran T, Heckerman D, Stryhn A, Edwards A, Ndung’u T, Walker BD, Buus S, Goulder P, Matthews PC. Nef-specific CD8+ T cell responses contribute to HIV-1 immune control. PLoS One 2013; 8:e73117. [PMID: 24023819 PMCID: PMC3759414 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2013] [Accepted: 07/24/2013] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies in the SIV-macaque model of HIV infection suggest that Nef-specific CD8+ T-cell responses may mediate highly effective immune control of viraemia. In HIV infection Nef recognition dominates in acute infection, but in large cohort studies of chronically infected subjects, breadth of T cell responses to Nef has not been correlated with significant viraemic control. Improved disease outcomes have instead been associated with targeting Gag and, in some cases, Pol. However analyses of the breadth of Nef-specific T cell responses have been confounded by the extreme immunogenicity and multiple epitope overlap within the central regions of Nef, making discrimination of distinct responses impossible via IFN-gamma ELISPOT assays. Thus an alternative approach to assess Nef as an immune target is needed. Here, we show in a cohort of >700 individuals with chronic C-clade infection that >50% of HLA-B-selected polymorphisms within Nef are associated with a predicted fitness cost to the virus, and that HLA-B alleles that successfully drive selection within Nef are those linked with lower viral loads. Furthermore, the specific CD8+ T cell epitopes that are restricted by protective HLA Class I alleles correspond substantially to effective SIV-specific epitopes in Nef. Distinguishing such individual HIV-specific responses within Nef requires specific peptide-MHC I tetramers. Overall, these data suggest that CD8+ T cell targeting of certain specific Nef epitopes contributes to HIV suppression. These data suggest that a re-evaluation of the potential use of Nef in HIV T-cell vaccine candidates would be justified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Adland
- Department of Paediatrics, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Jonathan M. Carlson
- Microsoft Research, eScience Group, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Paolo Paioni
- Department of Paediatrics, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Henrik Kløverpris
- Department of Paediatrics, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis & HIV, K-RITH, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Roger Shapiro
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Anthony Ogwu
- Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Lynn Riddell
- Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Trust,Northampton General Hospital, Northampton, United Kingdom
| | - Graz Luzzi
- Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Wycombe Hospital, High Wycombe, Bucks, United Kingdom
| | - Fabian Chen
- Department of Sexual Health, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Thambiah Balachandran
- Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Luton, United Kingdom
| | - David Heckerman
- Microsoft Research, eScience Group, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Anette Stryhn
- Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anne Edwards
- The Oxford Department of Genitourinary Medicine, the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Thumbi Ndung’u
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Bruce D. Walker
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Søren Buus
- Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Philip Goulder
- Department of Paediatrics, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, South Africa
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Philippa C. Matthews
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Manocheewa S, Swain JV, Lanxon-Cookson E, Rolland M, Mullins JI. Fitness costs of mutations at the HIV-1 capsid hexamerization interface. PLoS One 2013; 8:e66065. [PMID: 23785468 PMCID: PMC3681919 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2013] [Accepted: 05/03/2013] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The recently available x-ray crystal structure of HIV-1 capsid hexamers has provided insight into the molecular interactions crucial for the virus's mature capsid formation. Amino acid changes at these interaction points are likely to have a strong impact on capsid functionality and, hence, viral infectivity and replication fitness. To test this hypothesis, we introduced the most frequently observed single amino acid substitution at 30 sites: 12 at the capsid hexamerization interface and 18 at non-interface sites. Mutations at the interface sites were more likely to be lethal (Fisher's exact test p = 0.027) and had greater negative impact on viral replication fitness (Wilcoxon rank sum test p = 0.040). Among the interface mutations studied, those located in the cluster of hydrophobic contacts at NTD-NTD interface and those that disrupted NTD-CTD inter-domain helix capping hydrogen bonds were the most detrimental, indicating that these interactions are particularly important for maintaining capsid structure and/or function. These functionally constrained sites provide potential targets for novel HIV drug development and vaccine immunogen design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siriphan Manocheewa
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - J. Victor Swain
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Erinn Lanxon-Cookson
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Morgane Rolland
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - James I. Mullins
- Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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50
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Apps R, Qi Y, Carlson JM, Chen H, Gao X, Thomas R, Yuki Y, Del Prete GQ, Goulder P, Brumme ZL, Brumme CJ, John M, Mallal S, Nelson G, Bosch R, Heckerman D, Stein JL, Soderberg KA, Moody MA, Denny TN, Zeng X, Fang J, Moffett A, Lifson JD, Goedert JJ, Buchbinder S, Kirk GD, Fellay J, McLaren P, Deeks SG, Pereyra F, Walker B, Michael NL, Weintrob A, Wolinsky S, Liao W, Carrington M. Influence of HLA-C expression level on HIV control. Science 2013; 340:87-91. [PMID: 23559252 PMCID: PMC3784322 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 295] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
A variant upstream of human leukocyte antigen C (HLA-C) shows the most significant genome-wide effect on HIV control in European Americans and is also associated with the level of HLA-C expression. We characterized the differential cell surface expression levels of all common HLA-C allotypes and tested directly for effects of HLA-C expression on outcomes of HIV infection in 5243 individuals. Increasing HLA-C expression was associated with protection against multiple outcomes independently of individual HLA allelic effects in both African and European Americans, regardless of their distinct HLA-C frequencies and linkage relationships with HLA-B and HLA-A. Higher HLA-C expression was correlated with increased likelihood of cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and frequency of viral escape mutation. In contrast, high HLA-C expression had a deleterious effect in Crohn's disease, suggesting a broader influence of HLA expression levels in human disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Apps
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Ying Qi
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | - Haoyan Chen
- Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
- Department of Gastroenterology, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Diseases, Shanghai 200001, China
| | - Xiaojiang Gao
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Rasmi Thomas
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Yuko Yuki
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Greg Q. Del Prete
- AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Philip Goulder
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa
- Department of Paediatrics, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Zabrina L. Brumme
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
| | - Chanson J. Brumme
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
| | - Mina John
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150
| | - Simon Mallal
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150
| | - George Nelson
- Basic Research Program, Center for Cancer Research Genetics Core, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Ronald Bosch
- Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - David Heckerman
- Microsoft Research, eScience Group, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
| | - Judy L. Stein
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | | | - M. Anthony Moody
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Thomas N. Denny
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Xue Zeng
- Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
- Department of Dermatology, Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China
| | - Jingyuan Fang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Diseases, Shanghai 200001, China
| | - Ashley Moffett
- Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, CB2 1QP, UK
| | - Jeffrey D. Lifson
- AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - James J. Goedert
- Infectious and Immunoepidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD 20892, USA
| | - Susan Buchbinder
- San Francisco Department of Public Health, Bridge HIV, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
| | - Gregory D. Kirk
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Jacques Fellay
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Lausanne and School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Paul McLaren
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Lausanne and School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Steven G. Deeks
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
| | - Florencia Pereyra
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Bruce Walker
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Nelson L. Michael
- U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Amy Weintrob
- Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, 20817, USA
| | - Steven Wolinsky
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Wilson Liao
- Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
| | - Mary Carrington
- Cancer and Inflammation Program, Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)-Frederick, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
- Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA
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