Understanding Anti-HIV Antibody Targets

摘要

HIV-1 subtype C viruses elicit potent but highly type-specific neutralizing antibodies within the first year of infection. In order to determine the specificity and evolution of these autologous neutralizing antibodies, we examined neutralization escape in four individuals infected with HIV-1 subtype C from the CAPRISA 002 cohort in Durban, South Africa. Early neutralizing responses recognized a very limited number of epitopes, with antibodies that recognize new epitopes evolving sequentially. In addition, only two regions of the envelope were targeted by these antibodies, suggesting there might be common vulnerabilities in the HIV-1 subtype C transmitted envelope.