Biotechnology Letters, Vol.39, No.3, 367-373, 2017
Eliciting 10E8-like antibodies by the membrane proximal external region peptide of HIV-1 in guinea pigs
To develop an immunotherapy for HIV that can elicit 10E8-like broadly-neutralizing antibodies in guinea pigs, using a multiple antigen peptide (MAP) system as the platform and 10E8 peptide as the epitope. The immunogen, 10E8-MAP(4), was synthetized using the MAP system. The synthetic 10E8-MAP(4) was stable, and the epitopes could be exposed for recognition. In addition, the 10E8 epitope was present in an alpha-helical structure, which was hypothesized to aid in the generation of neutralizing antibodies. In vivo analysis showed that 10E8-MAP(4) could efficiently elicit HIV binding antibodies in guinea pigs, although only weak neutralizing activities were observed. Multiple antigen peptide is an excellent vaccine platform for generating binding antibodies, but may elicit weak neutralizing antibodies for HIV.
Keywords:Broadly-neutralizing antibody;HIV-1 vaccine;Multiple antigen peptide;Vaccine for HIV;10E8 epitope