Vaccine-elicited V3 loop-specific antibodies in rhesus monkeys and controlof a simian-human immunodeficiency virus expressing a primary patient human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate envelope
Nl. Letvin et al., Vaccine-elicited V3 loop-specific antibodies in rhesus monkeys and controlof a simian-human immunodeficiency virus expressing a primary patient human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate envelope, J VIROLOGY, 75(9), 2001, pp. 4165-4175
Vaccine-elicited antibodies specific for the third hypervariable domain of
the surface gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (V3 loop)
were assessed for their contribution to protection against infection in the
simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV)/rhesus monkey model. Peptide va
ccine-elicited anti-V3 loop antibody responses were examined for their abil
ity to contain replication of SHIV-89.6, a nonpathogenic SHIV expressing a
primary patient isolate HIV-1 envelope, as well as SHIV-89.6P, a pathogenic
variant of that virus. Low-titer neutralizing antibodies to SHIV-89.6 that
provided partial protection against viremia following SHIV-89.6 infection
were generated. A similarly low-titer neutralizing antibody response to SHI
V-89.6P that did not contain viremia after infection with SHIV-89.6P was ge
nerated, but a trend toward protection against CD4(+) T-lymphocyte loss was
seen in these infected monkeys. These observations suggest that the V3 loo
p on some primary patient HIV-1 isolates may be a partially effective targe
t for neutralizing antibodies induced by peptide immunogens.