Transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (pink/tan) budding and replicating from a segment of a chronically infected H9 cell (teal). Particles are in various stages of maturity; arc/semi-circles are immature particles that have started to form but are still part of the cell. Immature particles slowly change morphology into mature forms and exhibit the classic “conical or spherical-shaped core.
” Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID Using advanced immunological techniques, researchers have effectively activated the immune systems of animals to produce rare precursor B cells that can generate a type of HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). The results, published in Nature Immunology , represent a promising, gradual advance toward creating a preventive HIV vaccine.
HIV is genetically diverse making the virus difficult to target with a vaccine, but bNAbs may overcome that hurdle because they bind to parts of the virus that remain constant even when it mutates. Germline targeting is an immune system-stimulating approach that guides naïve (precursor) B cells to develop into mature B cells that can produce bNAbs. A class of bNAbs called 10E8 is a priority for HIV vaccine development because it neutralizes a particularly broad range of HIV variants.
The 10E8 bNAb binds to a conserved region of the glycoprotein gp41 on HIV’s surface involved in its entry into human immune cells. Designing.
