title: A human monoclonal antibody to HIV-1 gp41 with neutralizing activity against diverse laboratory isolates.
abstract: A potential component that may be useful for passive immunotherapy for HIV-1 is human monoclonal antibodies (HumAbs) possessing potent anti-HIV-1 activity that is directed against conserved regions of the envelope glycoprotein. Such antibodies would, in principle, have the ability to neutralize diverse isolates of HIV-1. To develop such reagents, hybridomas were derived by initial Epstein Barr virus transformation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from an asymptomatic HIV-1 seropositive donor followed by fusion with heteromyelomas, and secreted anti-HIV-1 antibodies were further characterized. The specificity of one HumAb, designated as clone 3, was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting analyses that indicated reactivity to the transmembrane envelope glyco-protein gp41. Synthetic pentadecapeptides overlapping by 10 amino acids were utilized for epitope mapping of clone 3; a decapeptide GCSGKLICTT in the transmembrane gp41 was identified as the epitope. Clone 3 bound to SupT1 cells infected with HTLV-IIIB in fluorescent activated cell sorting analysis. In addition, in vitro biological assays demonstrated that clone 3 possessed neutralization reactivity against diverse laboratory isolates as well as an AZT-resistant isolate. Therefore, clone 3 reactivity defines a conserved neutralizable site on the HIV-1 transmembrane glycoprotein. Clone 3 and the conserved immunogenic epitope on gp41 could be useful in passive and active immunotherapy for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cotropia
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Ugen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kliks
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Broliden
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Broliden
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hoxie
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Srikantan
authors.forename: W V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000821:virology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D006825:Hybridomas; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D009842:Oligopeptides