New research links early immune responses to protective HIV antibodies

A rare subset of people living with HIV (PLWH) develop antibodies that can block many different variants of HIV and these antibodies are called “broadly neutralizing antibodies” (bnAbs). New research now links this to immune responses that occur early in infection. This is important as it may open a new approach to support the development of bnAbs by future vaccines. The findings, published this week in the international scientific journal, PLoS Pathogens, came from an international research collaboration involving researchers from the University of Gothenburg and SciLifeLab in Sweden, Stanford University and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub  in the USA and several South Africa researchers from the Universities of Witwatersrand and KwaZulu-Natal in addition to the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).

DST/NRF South African Research Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics at the University of the Witwatersrand and Honorary Senior Scientist at CAPRISA, Professor Penny Moore says, “This international collaboration identified previously undescribed triggers of these rare broadly neutralizing antibodies. As these antibodies are essential for an HIV vaccine, understanding how they develop provides us with important clues for making future HIV vaccines.”

The research was based on two decades of research by Moore’s team, defining how broadly neutralizing antibodies develop and why these antibodies are so rare. The patients in the study have been followed up for over 20 years by CAPRISA scientists at their Durban clinics since 2003. The research team analyzed 42 blood samples from 14 recently infected patients in South Africa and found that those who later developed these antibodies showed a distinct pattern of immune activation early in infection. The study also revealed differences in the traces of other viruses and microbial material circulating in the participants’ blood. These findings suggest that interactions between the immune system, other infections, and the body’s microbial environment may be linked to how the immune system responds to HIV. 

The path to developing an AIDS vaccine has proven to be difficult, but it remains a key goal to achieve control of the global HIV epidemic. Currently the best prospect of an HIV vaccine is focused on triggering immune systems to produce bnAbs as these antibodies have been shown to prevent infection.

Joan Camunas, research group leader at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg says, “By studying the immune responses that occur in people who naturally develop broadly protective antibodies against HIV, we can better understand the biological processes that vaccine researchers aim to reproduce.” 

Enquiries:

Minoshni Pillay - CAPRISA
Email: minoshni.pillay@caprisa.org

Penny Moore – WITS/CAPRISA
Email: penelope.moore@wits.ac.za

Joan Camuñas-Soler - University of Gothenburg
Email: joan.camunas@gu.se 

Deborah Minors - WITS
Email: Deborah.Minors@wits.ac.za