title: Relative reactivity of HIV-1 polyclonal plasma antibodies directed to V3 and MPER regions suggests immunodominance of V3 over MPER and dependence of high anti-V3 antibody titers on virus persistence.
abstract: Antibodies to two crucial regions, the third variable loop (V3) of gp120 and the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of gp41 are important for HIV-1 neutralization. We here evaluated the relative binding of polyclonal plasma antibodies from 99 HIV-1-infected individuals from India to the consensus-C V3 and MPER peptides and observed immunodominance of V3 over MPER (p < 0.0001). We further examined the V3- and MPER-specific antibody correlates with clinical parameters. Our results revealed that anti-V3 antibody titers are significantly lower in patients on ART compared to drug-naive individuals (p < 0.0001), most likely due to a decrease in plasma viral load, irrespective of their CD4 counts and total IgG. No such association was observed for MPER, with a similar trend in four follow-up patients. These findings strongly suggest that high titers of V3-specific antibodies are dependent on persistence of virus in circulation, while antibodies to MPER are probably not.
authors: Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
authors: Raiees
authors: R
authors: Andrabi
authors: Alok K
authors: AK
authors: Choudhary
authors: Manju
authors: M
authors: Bala
authors: Rajesh
authors: R
authors: Kalra
authors: S S
authors: SS
authors: Prakash
authors: R M
authors: RM
authors: Pandey
authors: Kalpana
authors: K
authors: Luthra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41