Cross-neutralizing activity of human anti-V3 monoclonal antibodies derived from non-B clade HIV-1 infected individuals

One approach to the development of an HIV vaccine is to design a protein template which can present gp120 epitopes inducing cross-neutralizing antibodies. To select a V3 sequence for immunogen design, we compared the neutralizing activities of 18 anti-V3 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) derived from Cameroonian and Indian individuals infected with clade AG and C, respectively. It was found that V3 mAbs from the Cameroonian patients were significantly more cross-neutralizing than those from India. Interestingly, superior neutralizing activity of Cameroonian mAbs was also observed among the nine VH5-51/VL lambda genes encoding V3 mAbs which mediate a similar mode of recognition. This correlated with higher relative binding affinity to a variety of gp120s and increased mutation rates in V3 mAbs from Cameroon. These results suggest that clade C V3 is probably weakly immunogenic and that the V3 sequence of CRF02_AG viruses can serve as a plausible template for vaccine immunogen design.

► Eighteen V3 mAbs were studied from patients with clade AG (Cameroon) and C (India).
► Cameroonian V3 mAbs displayed superior neutralizing activity versus Indian mAbs.
► This had tendency to higher affinity and mutation rates in Cameroonian V3 mAbs.
► The V3 sequence of CRF02_AG viruses can serve as a template for immunogen design.