title: Rabbit anti-HIV-1 monoclonal antibodies raised by immunization can mimic the antigen-binding modes of antibodies derived from HIV-1-infected humans.
abstract: The rabbit is a commonly used animal model in studying antibody responses in HIV/AIDS vaccine development. However, no rabbit monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been developed previously to study the epitope-specific antibody responses against HIV-1 envelope (Env) glycoproteins, and little is known about how the rabbit immune system can mimic the human immune system in eliciting such antibodies. Here we present structural analyses of two rabbit MAbs, R56 and R20, against the third variable region (V3) of HIV-1 gp120. R56 recognizes the well-studied immunogenic region in the V3 crown, while R20 targets a less-studied region at the C terminus of V3. By comparison of the Fab/epitope complex structures of these two antibodies raised by immunization with that of the corresponding human antibodies derived from patients chronically infected with HIV-1, we found that rabbit antibodies can recognize immunogenic regions of gp120 and mimic the binding modes of human antibodies. This result can provide new insight into the use of the rabbit as an animal model in AIDS vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Jared M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sampson
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaine
authors.forename: Shixia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xiang-Peng
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C514793:gp120 protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1