Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens.
HIV-1 vaccine immunofocusing strategies may be able to induce broadly-reactive neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Here, we engineered a panel of diverse, membrane-resident native HIV-1 trimers vulnerable to two broad targets-the V2 apex and fusion peptide (FP). Selection criteria included i) high expre...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-10-01
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| Series: | PLoS Pathogens |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009807&type=printable |
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| author | Emma T Crooks Francisco Almanza Alessio D'Addabbo Erika Duggan Jinsong Zhang Kshitij Wagh Huihui Mou Joel D Allen Alyssa Thomas Keiko Osawa Bette T Korber Yaroslav Tsybovsky Evan Cale John Nolan Max Crispin Laurent K Verkoczy James M Binley |
| author_facet | Emma T Crooks Francisco Almanza Alessio D'Addabbo Erika Duggan Jinsong Zhang Kshitij Wagh Huihui Mou Joel D Allen Alyssa Thomas Keiko Osawa Bette T Korber Yaroslav Tsybovsky Evan Cale John Nolan Max Crispin Laurent K Verkoczy James M Binley |
| author_sort | Emma T Crooks |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | HIV-1 vaccine immunofocusing strategies may be able to induce broadly-reactive neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Here, we engineered a panel of diverse, membrane-resident native HIV-1 trimers vulnerable to two broad targets-the V2 apex and fusion peptide (FP). Selection criteria included i) high expression and ii) infectious function, so that trimer neutralization sensitivity can be profiled in pseudovirus (PV) assays. Initially, we boosted the expression of 17 candidate trimers by truncating gp41 and introducing a gp120-gp41 SOS disulfide to prevent gp120 shedding. "Repairs" were made to fill glycan holes and eliminate other strain-specific aberrations. A new neutralization assay allowed PV infection when our standard assay was insufficient. Trimers with exposed V3 loops, a target of non-NAbs, were discarded. To try to increase V2-sensitivity, we removed clashing glycans and modified the C-strand. Notably, a D167N mutation improved V2-sensitivity in several cases. Glycopeptide analysis of JR-FL trimers revealed near complete sequon occupation and that filling the N197 glycan hole was well-tolerated. In contrast, sequon optimization and inserting/removing glycans at other positions frequently had global "ripple" effects on glycan maturation and sequon occupation throughout the gp120 outer domain and gp41. V2 MAb CH01 selectively bound to trimers with small high mannose glycans near the base of the V1 loop, thereby avoiding clashes. Knocking in a rare N49 glycan was found to perturb gp41 glycans, increasing FP NAb sensitivity-and sometimes improving expression. Finally, a biophysical analysis of VLPs revealed that i) ~25% of particles bear Env spikes, ii) spontaneous particle budding is high and only increases 4-fold upon Gag transfection, and iii) Env+ particles express ~30-40 spikes. Taken together, we identified 7 diverse trimers with a range of sensitivities to two targets to allow rigorous testing of immunofocusing vaccine concepts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1fe018ddda00476f8ca88d447d3fcea2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1553-7366 1553-7374 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Pathogens |
| spelling | doaj-art-1fe018ddda00476f8ca88d447d3fcea22025-08-20T02:33:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742021-10-011710e100980710.1371/journal.ppat.1009807Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens.Emma T CrooksFrancisco AlmanzaAlessio D'AddabboErika DugganJinsong ZhangKshitij WaghHuihui MouJoel D AllenAlyssa ThomasKeiko OsawaBette T KorberYaroslav TsybovskyEvan CaleJohn NolanMax CrispinLaurent K VerkoczyJames M BinleyHIV-1 vaccine immunofocusing strategies may be able to induce broadly-reactive neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Here, we engineered a panel of diverse, membrane-resident native HIV-1 trimers vulnerable to two broad targets-the V2 apex and fusion peptide (FP). Selection criteria included i) high expression and ii) infectious function, so that trimer neutralization sensitivity can be profiled in pseudovirus (PV) assays. Initially, we boosted the expression of 17 candidate trimers by truncating gp41 and introducing a gp120-gp41 SOS disulfide to prevent gp120 shedding. "Repairs" were made to fill glycan holes and eliminate other strain-specific aberrations. A new neutralization assay allowed PV infection when our standard assay was insufficient. Trimers with exposed V3 loops, a target of non-NAbs, were discarded. To try to increase V2-sensitivity, we removed clashing glycans and modified the C-strand. Notably, a D167N mutation improved V2-sensitivity in several cases. Glycopeptide analysis of JR-FL trimers revealed near complete sequon occupation and that filling the N197 glycan hole was well-tolerated. In contrast, sequon optimization and inserting/removing glycans at other positions frequently had global "ripple" effects on glycan maturation and sequon occupation throughout the gp120 outer domain and gp41. V2 MAb CH01 selectively bound to trimers with small high mannose glycans near the base of the V1 loop, thereby avoiding clashes. Knocking in a rare N49 glycan was found to perturb gp41 glycans, increasing FP NAb sensitivity-and sometimes improving expression. Finally, a biophysical analysis of VLPs revealed that i) ~25% of particles bear Env spikes, ii) spontaneous particle budding is high and only increases 4-fold upon Gag transfection, and iii) Env+ particles express ~30-40 spikes. Taken together, we identified 7 diverse trimers with a range of sensitivities to two targets to allow rigorous testing of immunofocusing vaccine concepts.https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009807&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Emma T Crooks Francisco Almanza Alessio D'Addabbo Erika Duggan Jinsong Zhang Kshitij Wagh Huihui Mou Joel D Allen Alyssa Thomas Keiko Osawa Bette T Korber Yaroslav Tsybovsky Evan Cale John Nolan Max Crispin Laurent K Verkoczy James M Binley Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. PLoS Pathogens |
| title | Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. |
| title_full | Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. |
| title_fullStr | Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. |
| title_short | Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. |
| title_sort | engineering well expressed v2 immunofocusing hiv 1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime boost vaccine regimens |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009807&type=printable |
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