Cited by 278HIV Research and Treatmentvaccines and immunoinformatics approachesMonoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research

Elicitation of structure-specific antibodies by epitope scaffolds

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Ofek, Gilad, Guenaga, F. Javier, Schief, William R., Skinner, Jeff, Baker, David, Wyatt, Richard, Kwong, Peter D.·2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Elicitation of antibodies against targets that are immunorecessive, cryptic, or transient in their native context has been a challenge for vaccine design. Here we demonstrate the elicitation of structure-specific antibodies against the HIV-1 gp41 epitope of the broadly neutralizing antibody 2F5. This conformationally flexible region of gp41 assumes mostly helical conformations but adopts a kinked, extended structure when bound by antibody 2F5. Computational techniques were employed to transplant the 2F5 epitope into select acceptor scaffolds. The resultant “2F5-epitope scaffolds” possessed nanomolar affinity for antibody 2F5 and a range of epitope flexibilities and antigenic specificities. Crystallographic characterization of the epitope scaffold with highest affinity and antigenic discrimination confirmed good to near perfect attainment of the target conformation for the gp41 molecular graft in free and 2F5-bound states, respectively. Animals immunized with 2F5-epitope scaffolds showed levels of graft-specific immune responses that correlated with graft flexibility ( p < 0.04), while antibody responses against the graft—as dissected residue-by-residue with alanine substitutions—resembled more closely those of 2F5 than sera elicited with flexible or cyclized peptides, a resemblance heightened by heterologous prime-boost. Lastly, crystal structures of a gp41 peptide in complex with monoclonal antibodies elicited by the 2F5-epitope scaffolds revealed that the elicited antibodies induce gp41 to assume its 2F5-recognized shape. Epitope scaffolds thus provide a means to elicit antibodies that recognize a predetermined target shape and sequence, even if that shape is transient in nature, and a means by which to dissect factors influencing such elicitation.

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  1. Fernandez-Carneado J, et al. (2000) Surface grafting onto template-assembled synthetic protein scaffolds in molecular recognition. Biopolymers 55(6):451-458.

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Authors
Ofek, G., Guenaga, F. J., Schief, W. R., Skinner, J., Baker, D., Wyatt, R., & Kwong, P. D.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892;
  • University of Washington (US)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2010-09-27
Volume
107
Issue
42
Pages
17880-17887
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2054392131
Cited by
278
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 36
FWCI
11.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Office of Science
  • Basic Energy Sciences
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Virology › HIV Research and Treatment
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
Keywords
HIV-1 gp41, conformational epitopes, vaccine design, epitope mapping, heterologous prime-boost
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Epitopes, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Immune Sera, Molecular Sequence Data, HIV Antibodies, HIV Envelope Protein gp41, Crystallography, X-Ray, Mice

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