Faculty Bibliography

The detection of cardiac conduction defects in an 18-24 week old foetus in the absence of structural abnormalities predicts with near certainty the presence of autoantibodies against 60kD and 52kD SSA/Ro in the mother regardless of her health status. Previous studies have emphasized these autoantibodies as key mediators of tissue injury. The aim of this study was to focus on the anti-Ro52 response to determine whether these autoantibodies originate from progenitors that are inherently self-reactive or from B-cells that acquire self-reactivity during an immune response. We traced the evolution of two anti-Ro52 autoantibodies isolated from circulating IgG1-switched B-cells from an asymptomatic mother of a child with third degree congenital heart block. The autoantibodies were expressed as their immune form and as pre-immune ancestors by reverting somatic mutations to germline sequence. The reactivity of pre-immune and immune antibodies for Ro52, Ro60, La and DNA was measured. Both anti-Ro52 autoantibodies exhibited a low frequency of somatic mutations (3-4%) and utilised the same heavy and light chain genes but represented distinct clones based on differing complementarity determining region sequences. Pre- and post-immune antibodies showed specific binding to Ro52 with no measurable reactivity for other autoantigens. Ro52 binding was higher for immune antibodies compared to pre-immune counterparts demonstrating that autoreactivity was enhanced by affinity maturation. These data indicate that Ro52 reactivity is an intrinsic property of the germline antibody repertoire in a mother with a pathogenic antibody defined by cardiac injury in her offspring, and implies defects in both central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms.

In light of weak or absent neutralizing activity mediated by anti-V2 monoclonal Abs (mAbs), we tested whether they can mediate Ab-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) which is an important element of anti-HIV-1 immunity. We tested six anti-V2 mAbs and compared them with 21 mAbs specific for V3, the CD4-binding site (CD4bs), and gp41 derived from HIV-1 chronically infected individuals and produced by hybridoma cells. ADCP activity was measured by flow cytometry using uptake by THP-1 monocytic cells of fluorescent beads coated with gp120, gp41, BG505 SOSIP.664 or BG505 DS-SOSIP.664 complexed with mAbs. The ADCP activity measured by the area under the curve showed significantly higher activity of anti-gp41 mAbs compared to three other groups of mAbs tested using beads coated with monomeric gp41 or gp120; anti-V2 mAbs were dominant over anti-V3 and anti-CD4bs against clade C gp120ZM109. ADCP mediated by V2 and V3 mAbs was positive against stabilized DS-SOSIP.664 trimer but negligible against SOSIP.664 targets, suggesting a closed envelope conformation better exposes the variable loops. Two IgG3 mAbs against V2 and V3 regions displayed dominant ADCP activity over a panel of IgG1 mAbs. This superior ADCP activity was confirmed when two of three recombinant IgG3 anti-V2 mAbs were compared to IgG1 counterparts. The study demonstrated dominant ADCP activity of anti-gp41 against monomers but not trimers with some higher activity of anti-V2 mAbs over anti-V3 and anti-CD4bs mAbs. The ability to mediate ADCP suggests a mechanism by which anti-HIV-1 envelope Abs can contribute to protective efficacy. IMPORTANCE: Anti-V2 antibodies (Abs) correlated with reduced risk of HIV-1 infection in recipients of the RV144 vaccine suggesting that they play a protective role, but a mechanism providing such protection remains to be determined. The rare and weak neutralizing activities of anti-V2 mAbs prompted us to study Fc-mediated activities. We compared anti-V2 mAbs with other mAbs specific for V3, CD4bs and gp41 for Ab-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) activity, implicated in protective immunity. The anti-V2 mAbs displayed stronger activity compared to other anti-gp120 mAbs when screened against one of two gp120s and against DS-SOSIP which mimics the native trimer. Anti-gp41 mAbs were superior when targeting monomeric gp41, but were comparable against trimers which may not adequately expose gp41 epitopes. While anti-envelope mAbs in general mediated ADCP, anti-V2 mAbs displayed some dominance compared to other mAbs. Our demonstration that anti-V2 mAbs mediate ADCP suggests a functional mechanism for their contribution to protective efficacy.

The V3 loop in the HIV envelope gp120 is one of the immunogenic sites targeted by Abs. The V3 crown in particular has conserved structural elements recognized by cross-reactive neutralizing Abs, indicating its potential contribution in protection against HIV. Crystallographic analyses of anti-V3 crown mAbs in complex with the V3 peptides have revealed that these mAbs recognize the conserved sites on the V3 crown via two distinct strategies: a cradle-binding mode (V3C) and a ladle-binding (V3L) mode. However, almost all of the anti-V3 crown mAbs studied in the past were isolated from chronically HIV-infected individuals. The extents to which the two types of anti-V3 crown Abs are generated by vaccination are unknown. This study analyzed the prevalence of V3C-type and V3L-type Ab responses in HIV-infected individuals and in HIV envelope-immunized humans and animals using peptide mimotopes that distinguish the two Ab types. The results show that both V3L-type and V3C-type Abs were generated by the vast majority of chronically HIV-infected humans, although the V3L-type were more prevalent. In contrast, only one of the two V3 Ab types was elicited in vaccinated humans or animal models, irrespective of HIV-1 envelope clades, envelope constructs (oligomeric or monomeric), and protocols (DNA plus protein or protein alone) used for vaccinations. The V3C-type Abs were produced by vaccinated humans, macaques, and rabbits, whereas the V3L-type Abs were made by mice. The V3C-type and V3L-type Abs generated by the vaccinations were able to mediate virus neutralization. These data indicate the restricted repertoires and the species-specific differences in the functional V3-specific Ab responses induced by the HIV envelope vaccines. The study implies the need for improving immunogen designs and vaccination strategies to broaden the diversity of Abs in order to target the different conserved epitopes in the V3 loop and, by extension, in the entire HIV envelope.

Background and aims Autoantibodies targeting Ro52 occur in systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Yet the most compelling evidence for their pathogenesis is the development of cardiac conduction abnormalities, a manifestation of neonatal lupus, in foetuses exposed to maternal anti-Ro52 autoantibodies. Recent studies investigating other pathogenic autoantibodies (antiinterferon, anti-desmoglein) report that they arise as a result of somatic mutation. The aim of this study was to determine how anti-Ro52 autoantibodies originate. Methods We traced the evolution of two anti-Ro52 autoantibodies isolated from circulating IgG-switched memory B-cells from a mother of two children with cardiac neonatal lupus. Each antibody was expressed as its immune form or preimmune ancestor by reverting somatic mutations to germline sequence. Antibody reactivity against autoantigens Ro52, Ro60, La and dsDNA were tested by ELISA. Results Both anti-Ro52 autoantibodies utilised the same heavy and light chain genes (IGHV3-23 and IGLV1-44) but represented distinct clones based on differing complementarity determining region sequences. Anti-Ro52 autoantibodies exhibited a low frequency (3%-4%) of somatic mutations compared to the average rate of 8% in healthy switched memory B-cells. In contrast to other pathogenic autoantibodies, the preimmune (germlined) anti-Ro52 autoantibodies showed specific binding to Ro52. However, Ro52 reactivity was higher for the mutated post-immune antibodies compared to their preimmune counterparts demonstrating that autoreactivity was enhanced by affinity maturation. Conclusions These data demonstrate that Ro52 reactivity is an intrinsic property of the germline antibody repertoire in a mother of children affected by neonatal lupus and indicate defects in central and peripheral tolerance pathways allow propagation of pathogenic autoantibodies

The V3 loop in the HIV envelope gp120 is one of the immunogenic sites targeted by virus-neutralizing Abs. The V3 crown in particular has conserved structural elements recognized by cross-reactive Abs, implicating its potential contribution in protection against HIV. Crystallographic analyses of anti-V3 crown mAbs in complex with the V3 peptides have revealed that these mAbs recognize the conserved sites on the V3 crown via two distinct strategies: A cradle-binding mode (V3C) and a ladle-binding (V3L) mode. However, almost all of the anti-V3 crown mAbs studied in the past were isolated from chronically HIV-infected individuals. The extents to which the two types of anti-V3 crown Abs are generated by HIV envelope vaccines are unknown. This study analyzed the prevalence and levels of V3C-Type and V3L-Type Ab responses in HIVinfected individuals and in HIV envelope-immunized humans and animals using peptide mimotopes that distinguish the two V3 Ab types. The results show that both V3L-Type and V3C-Type Abs were generated by the vast majority of chronically HIV-infected humans, although the V3L-Type were more prevalent. In contrast, only one type of V3 Abs was elicited in humans or animal models after receiving the HIV envelope vaccines. Irrespective of the HIV envelopes and immunization regimens used, the V3C-Type Abs were produced by vaccinated humans, macaques, and rabbits, whereas the V3L-Type Abs were made by mice. The V3C-Type and V3L-Type Abs generated by the HIV envelope vaccines were able to mediate virus neutralization. These data indicate the restricted repertoires and the species-specific differences in the functional V3 Ab responses induced by the HIV envelope vaccines. The study implicates the need for improving immunogen designs and vaccination strategies to broaden the diversity of Abs and target the different conserved epitopes in the V3 loop and in the HIV envelope as a whole

HIV-1 is able to elicit broadly potent neutralizing antibodies in a very small subset of individuals only after several years' infection and, therefore, vaccines that elicit these types of antibodies have been difficult to design. The RV144 trial showed that a moderate protection is possible, which may correlate with ADCC activity. Our previous studies demonstrated that in an HIV vaccine phase I trial, DP6-001, a polyvalent Env DNA prime-protein boost formulation, could elicit potent and broadly reactive, gp120-specific antibodies with positive neutralization activities. Here we report the production and analysis of HIV-1 Env-specific human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) isolated from DP6-001 vaccinees. For this initial report, 13 mAbs from four DP6-001 vaccinees showed broad binding activities to gp120 proteins of diverse subtypes, both autologous and heterologous to vaccine immunogens. Equally cross-reactive Fc-mediated functional activities, including ADCC and ADCP, were present with both immune sera and isolated mAbs, confirming the induction of non-neutralizing functional mAbs by the DNA prime-protein boost vaccination. Elicitation of broadly reactive mAbs by vaccination in healthy human volunteers confirms the value of the polyvalent formulation in this HIV vaccine design. IMPORTANCE: The roles of FcR mediated protective antibody responses are gaining more attention due their potential contribution to the low level protection against HIV-1 infection in RV144 trail. At the same time, the information from other HIV vaccine studies from humans is very limited. In the current report, both immune sera and monoclonal antibodies from vaccinated humans showed not only high level but also cross-subtype ADCC and ADCP activities using a polyvalent DNA prime-protein boost vaccine formulation.

RV144 vaccinees with low HIV-1 Envelope-specific IgA antibodies (Abs) also had Abs directed to the hypervariable region 3 (V3) that inversely correlated with infection risk. Thus, anti-V3 HIV-1 Abs may contribute to protection from HIV-1 infection. The V3 region contains two dominant clusters of epitopes; one is preferentially recognized by mAbs encoded by VH5-51 and VL lambda genes, while the second one is recognized by mAbs encoded by other VH genes. We designed a study in rhesus macaques to induce anti-V3 Abs specific to each of these two dominant clusters of V3 epitopes to test whether the usage of the VH5-51 gene results in different characteristics of antibodies. The two C4-V3 immunogens used for immunization were each comprised of a fusion of the C4 peptide containing the T cell epitope and a V3 mimotope peptide mimicking the V3 epitope. The C4-447 peptide was designed to target B cells with several VH1-VH4 genes, the C4-VH5-51 peptide was designed to specifically target B cells with the VH5-51 gene. Six animals in two groups were immunized five times with these two immunogens, and screening of 10 sequential plasma samples post immunization demonstrated that C4-447 induced higher titers of plasma anti-V3 Abs and significantly more potent neutralizing activities against tier 1 and some tier 2 pseudoviruses than C4-VH5-51. Levels of anti-V3 Abs in buccal secretions were significantly higher in sequential samples derived from C4-447- than from C4-VH5-51-immunized animals. The titers of anti-V3 Abs in plasma strongly correlated with their levels in mucosal secretions. The results show that high titers of vaccine-induced anti-V3 Abs in plasma determine the potency and breadth of neutralization, as well as the rate of transduction of Abs to mucosal tissues, where they can play a role in preventing HIV-1 infection.

OBJECTIVE: Many HIV patients on combined antiretroviral therapy exhibit HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders because the brain becomes a viral reservoir. There is a need for therapeutics that can enter the central nervous system (CNS) and eradicate the virus. DESIGN: Radiolabeled human mAb 2556 to HIV gp41 selectively kills HIV-infected cells in vivo and in vitro. Here we tested the ability of 213Bi-2556 to cross a tissue culture model of the human blood brain barrier and kill HIV-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and monocytes on the CNS side of the barrier. METHODS: 2556 mAb isoelectric point was determined with isoelectric focusing. The ability of radiolabeled 2556 to penetrate through the barrier was studied by adding it to the upper chamber of the barriers and its penetration into the CNS side was followed for 5 h. To assess the ability of Bi-2556 to kill the HIV-infected cells on the CNS side of barrier, the HIV-infected and uninfected PBMCs and monocytes were allowed to transmigrate across the barriers overnight followed by application of Bi-2556 or control mAb Bi-1418 to the top of the barrier. Killing of cells was measured by TUNEL and Trypan blue assays. The barriers were examined by confocal microscopy for overt damage. RESULTS: The isoelectric point of Bi-2556 was 9.6 enabling its penetration through the barrier by transcytosis. Bi-2556 killed significantly more transmigrated HIV-infected cells in comparison to Bi-1418 and uninfected cells. No overt damage to barriers was observed. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that Bi-2556 mAb crossed an in-vitro human blood brain barrier and specifically killed transmigrated HIV-infected PBMCs and monocytes without overt damage to the barrier.