title: An unrelated monoclonal antibody neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus type 1 by binding to an artificial epitope engineered in a functionally neutral region of the viral envelope glycoproteins.
abstract: Neutralizing antibodies often recognize regions of viral envelope glycoproteins that play a role in receptor binding or other aspects of virus entry. To address whether this is a necessary feature of a neutralizing antibody, we identified the V4 region of the gp120 envelope glycoprotein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as a sequence that is tolerant of drastic change and thus appears to play a negligible role in envelope glycoprotein function. An artificial epitope tag was inserted into the V4 region without a significant effect on virus entry or neutralization by antibodies that recognize HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein sequences. An antibody directed against the artificial epitope tag was able to neutralize the modified, but not the wild-type, HIV-1. Thus, the specific target of a neutralizing antibody need not contribute functionally to the process of virus entry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, JFB 824, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Xinping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sodroski
authors.forename: Xinzhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D011994:Recombinant Proteins