Human Monoclonal Antibodies to the V3 Loop of HIV-1 with Intra- and Interclade Cross-Reactivity

Five human anti-V3 mAbs were generated from Ab-producing cells derived from the blood of HIV-1-infected individuals from North America and selected using the V3 peptide of a divergent clade B isolate, HIV_RF. The anti-V3_RF mAbs were mapped to a cluster of three overlapping epitopes present in the KSITKGP sequence located in the hypervariable region on the N-terminal side of the V3 loop. Broad immunochemical cross-reactivity was noted when the mAbs were tested for binding to V3 peptides derived from four clade A viruses, nine clade B viruses, and two clade C viruses. These results demonstrate antigenic relatedness in the V3 regions of these three HIV-1 clades. Affinities determined by surface plasmon resonance were higher for recombinant gp120 than for V3 peptides, suggesting that these mAbs recognize both linear and conformationally dependent epitopes of the V3 loop. Two of the mAbs neutralized four clade B T cell line-adapted and primary isolates with varying degrees of potency. The two neutralizing mAbs were the most cross-reactive with V3 peptides from several clades, had the highest affinity for V3_RF and V3_MN, and stained HIV-infected cells. The data suggest that cross-reactivity, affinity, cell surface staining, and neutralizing activity are characteristics that describe an optimal fit between Ag and Ab. The results also demonstrate that the V3 peptides representing the sequence of several clade A, B, and C viruses share antigenic features that are recognized by the human immune response, a finding that suggests that cross-clade immunity to HIV-1 may be inducible by HIV-1 vaccines.