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Analysis of HIV-1 envelope evolution suggests antibody-mediated selection of common epitopes among Chinese former plasma donors from a narrow-source outbreak

Andrews, Sophie M. ; Zhang, Yonghong ; Dong, Tao ; Rowland-Jones, Sarah L. ; Gupta, Sunetra and Esbjörnsson, Joakim LU orcid (2018) In Scientific Reports 8(1).
Abstract

The HIV-1 envelope mutates rapidly to evade recognition and killing, and is a major target of humoral immune responses and vaccine development. Identification of common epitopes for vaccine development have been complicated by genetic variation on both virus and host levels. We studied HIV-1 envelope gp120 evolution in 12 Chinese former plasma donors infected with a purportedly single founder virus, with the aim of identifying common antibody epitopes under immune selection. We found five amino acid sites under significant positive selection in ≥50% of the study participants, and 22 sites consistent with antibody-mediated selection. Despite strong selection pressure, some sites housed a limited repertoire of amino acids. Structural... (More)

The HIV-1 envelope mutates rapidly to evade recognition and killing, and is a major target of humoral immune responses and vaccine development. Identification of common epitopes for vaccine development have been complicated by genetic variation on both virus and host levels. We studied HIV-1 envelope gp120 evolution in 12 Chinese former plasma donors infected with a purportedly single founder virus, with the aim of identifying common antibody epitopes under immune selection. We found five amino acid sites under significant positive selection in ≥50% of the study participants, and 22 sites consistent with antibody-mediated selection. Despite strong selection pressure, some sites housed a limited repertoire of amino acids. Structural modelling revealed that most of the variable amino acid sites were located on the exposed distal edge of the Gp120 trimer, whilst invariant sites clustered within the centre of the protein complex. Two sites, flanking the V3 hypervariable loop, represent novel antibody sites. Analysis of HIV-1 evolution in hosts infected with a narrow-source virus may provide insight and novel understanding of common epitopes under antibody-mediated selection. If verified in functional studies, such epitopes could be suitable as targets in vaccine development.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
8
issue
1
article number
5743
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:29636501
  • scopus:85045244249
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-018-23913-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
79a16e7d-e795-4ac0-9d51-0e2d6aec7938
date added to LUP
2018-05-03 07:40:01
date last changed
2024-01-29 15:34:22
@article{79a16e7d-e795-4ac0-9d51-0e2d6aec7938,
  abstract     = {{<p>The HIV-1 envelope mutates rapidly to evade recognition and killing, and is a major target of humoral immune responses and vaccine development. Identification of common epitopes for vaccine development have been complicated by genetic variation on both virus and host levels. We studied HIV-1 envelope gp120 evolution in 12 Chinese former plasma donors infected with a purportedly single founder virus, with the aim of identifying common antibody epitopes under immune selection. We found five amino acid sites under significant positive selection in ≥50% of the study participants, and 22 sites consistent with antibody-mediated selection. Despite strong selection pressure, some sites housed a limited repertoire of amino acids. Structural modelling revealed that most of the variable amino acid sites were located on the exposed distal edge of the Gp120 trimer, whilst invariant sites clustered within the centre of the protein complex. Two sites, flanking the V3 hypervariable loop, represent novel antibody sites. Analysis of HIV-1 evolution in hosts infected with a narrow-source virus may provide insight and novel understanding of common epitopes under antibody-mediated selection. If verified in functional studies, such epitopes could be suitable as targets in vaccine development.</p>}},
  author       = {{Andrews, Sophie M. and Zhang, Yonghong and Dong, Tao and Rowland-Jones, Sarah L. and Gupta, Sunetra and Esbjörnsson, Joakim}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Analysis of HIV-1 envelope evolution suggests antibody-mediated selection of common epitopes among Chinese former plasma donors from a narrow-source outbreak}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23913-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-018-23913-2}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}