Center for Biomedical Research, Population Council, New York, New York, United States of America.
Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS Pathog. 2019 May 13;15(5):e1007776. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007776. eCollection 2019 May.
VRC01 protects macaques from vaginal SHIV infection after a single high-dose challenge. Infusion of a simianized anti-α4β7 mAb (Rh-α4β7) just prior to, and during repeated vaginal exposures to SIVmac251 partially protected macaques from vaginal SIV infection and rescued CD4+ T cells. To investigate the impact of combining VRC01 and Rh-α4β7 on SHIV infection, 3 groups of macaques were treated with a suboptimal dosing of VRC01 alone or in combination with Rh-α4β7 or with control antibodies prior to the initiation of weekly vaginal exposures to a high dose (1000 TCID50) of SHIVAD8-EO. The combination Rh-α4β7-VRC01 significantly delayed SHIVAD8-EO vaginal infection. Following infection, VRC01-Rh-α4β7-treated macaques maintained higher CD4+ T cell counts and exhibited lower rectal SIV-DNA loads compared to controls. Interestingly, VRC01-Rh-α4β7-treated macaques had fewer IL-17-producing cells in the blood and the gut during the acute phase of infection. Moreover, higher T cell responses to the V2-loop of the SHIVAD8-EO envelope in the VRC01-Rh-α4β7 group inversely correlated with set point viremia. The combination of suboptimal amounts of VRC01 and Rh-α4β7 delayed infection, altered antiviral immune responses and minimized CD4+ T cell loss. Further exploration of the effect of combining bNAbs with Rh-α4β7 on SIV/HIV infection and antiviral immune responses is warranted and may lead to novel preventive and therapeutic strategies.
VRC01 在单次高剂量挑战后可保护猕猴免受阴道 SHIV 感染。在反复阴道暴露于 SIVmac251 之前和期间输注模拟化抗 α4β7 mAb(Rh-α4β7)可部分保护猕猴免受阴道 SIV 感染并挽救 CD4+T 细胞。为了研究 VRC01 和 Rh-α4β7 联合使用对 SHIV 感染的影响,3 组猕猴在用亚最佳剂量的 VRC01 单独或与 Rh-α4β7 联合或与对照抗体治疗后开始每周阴道暴露于高剂量(1000 TCID50)SHIVAD8-EO。组合 Rh-α4β7-VRC01 显著延迟了 SHIVAD8-EO 阴道感染。感染后,与对照组相比,VRC01-Rh-α4β7 治疗的猕猴保持更高的 CD4+T 细胞计数,并表现出更低的直肠 SIV-DNA 负荷。有趣的是,VRC01-Rh-α4β7 治疗的猕猴在感染的急性期血液和肠道中产生 IL-17 的细胞较少。此外,VRC01-Rh-α4β7 组对 SHIVAD8-EO 包膜 V2 环的 T 细胞反应与病毒学临界点呈负相关。亚最佳剂量的 VRC01 和 Rh-α4β7 的组合延迟了感染,改变了抗病毒免疫反应,并最大限度地减少了 CD4+T 细胞的损失。进一步探索联合使用 bNAbs 和 Rh-α4β7 对 SIV/HIV 感染和抗病毒免疫反应的影响是必要的,可能会导致新的预防和治疗策略。