Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.

Zoonotic simian foamy viruses (SFV) establish lifelong infection in their human hosts. Despite repeated transmission of SFV from nonhuman primates to humans, neither transmission between human hosts nor severe clinical manifestations have been reported. We aim to study the immune responses elicited...

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Main Authors: Mathilde Couteaudier, Thomas Montange, Richard Njouom, Chanceline Bilounga-Ndongo, Antoine Gessain, Florence Buseyne
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-05-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010470&type=printable
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author Mathilde Couteaudier
Thomas Montange
Richard Njouom
Chanceline Bilounga-Ndongo
Antoine Gessain
Florence Buseyne
author_facet Mathilde Couteaudier
Thomas Montange
Richard Njouom
Chanceline Bilounga-Ndongo
Antoine Gessain
Florence Buseyne
author_sort Mathilde Couteaudier
collection DOAJ
description Zoonotic simian foamy viruses (SFV) establish lifelong infection in their human hosts. Despite repeated transmission of SFV from nonhuman primates to humans, neither transmission between human hosts nor severe clinical manifestations have been reported. We aim to study the immune responses elicited by chronic infection with this retrovirus and previously reported that SFV-infected individuals generate potent neutralizing antibodies that block cell infection by viral particles. Here, we assessed whether human plasma antibodies block SFV cell-to-cell transmission and present the first description of cell-to-cell spreading of zoonotic gorilla SFV. We set-up a microtitration assay to quantify the ability of plasma samples from 20 Central African individuals infected with gorilla SFV and 9 uninfected controls to block cell-associated transmission of zoonotic gorilla SFV strains. We used flow-based cell cytometry and fluorescence microscopy to study envelope protein (Env) localization and the capacity of plasma antibodies to bind to infected cells. We visualized the cell-to-cell spread of SFV by real-time live imaging of a GFP-expressing prototype foamy virus (CI-PFV) strain. None of the samples neutralized cell-associated SFV infection, despite the inhibition of cell-free virus. We detected gorilla SFV Env in the perinuclear region, cytoplasmic vesicles and at the cell surface. We found that plasma antibodies bind to Env located at the surface of cells infected with primary gorilla SFV strains. Extracellular labeling of SFV proteins by human plasma samples showed patchy staining at the base of the cell and dense continuous staining at the cell apex, as well as staining in the intercellular connections that formed when previously connected cells separated from each other. In conclusion, SFV-specific antibodies from infected humans do not block cell-to-cell transmission, at least in vitro, despite their capacity to bind to the surface of infected cells. Trial registration: Clinical trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03225794/.
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-0522ee0add6646d482efaa34edea75852025-08-20T02:46:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742022-05-01185e101047010.1371/journal.ppat.1010470Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.Mathilde CouteaudierThomas MontangeRichard NjouomChanceline Bilounga-NdongoAntoine GessainFlorence BuseyneZoonotic simian foamy viruses (SFV) establish lifelong infection in their human hosts. Despite repeated transmission of SFV from nonhuman primates to humans, neither transmission between human hosts nor severe clinical manifestations have been reported. We aim to study the immune responses elicited by chronic infection with this retrovirus and previously reported that SFV-infected individuals generate potent neutralizing antibodies that block cell infection by viral particles. Here, we assessed whether human plasma antibodies block SFV cell-to-cell transmission and present the first description of cell-to-cell spreading of zoonotic gorilla SFV. We set-up a microtitration assay to quantify the ability of plasma samples from 20 Central African individuals infected with gorilla SFV and 9 uninfected controls to block cell-associated transmission of zoonotic gorilla SFV strains. We used flow-based cell cytometry and fluorescence microscopy to study envelope protein (Env) localization and the capacity of plasma antibodies to bind to infected cells. We visualized the cell-to-cell spread of SFV by real-time live imaging of a GFP-expressing prototype foamy virus (CI-PFV) strain. None of the samples neutralized cell-associated SFV infection, despite the inhibition of cell-free virus. We detected gorilla SFV Env in the perinuclear region, cytoplasmic vesicles and at the cell surface. We found that plasma antibodies bind to Env located at the surface of cells infected with primary gorilla SFV strains. Extracellular labeling of SFV proteins by human plasma samples showed patchy staining at the base of the cell and dense continuous staining at the cell apex, as well as staining in the intercellular connections that formed when previously connected cells separated from each other. In conclusion, SFV-specific antibodies from infected humans do not block cell-to-cell transmission, at least in vitro, despite their capacity to bind to the surface of infected cells. Trial registration: Clinical trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03225794/.https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010470&type=printable
spellingShingle Mathilde Couteaudier
Thomas Montange
Richard Njouom
Chanceline Bilounga-Ndongo
Antoine Gessain
Florence Buseyne
Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
PLoS Pathogens
title Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
title_full Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
title_fullStr Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
title_full_unstemmed Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
title_short Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells.
title_sort plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell to cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells
url https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010470&type=printable
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