Characteristics of HIV-1 env genes from Chinese chronically infected donors with highly broad cross-neutralizing activity.

Characteristics of HIV-1 env genes from Chinese chronically infected donors with highly broad cross-neutralizing activity. Virology. 2020 Sep 28;551:16-25 Authors: Sha SS, Dai Z, Wei QZ, Tao HX, Yuan HY, Li R, Ying L, Li Ying M, Ming SY, Xue HK Abstract Knowledge about the special characteristics of HIV-1 envelope (env) glycoproteins in rare individuals developing >90% neutralization breadth in Chinese subtype B' slow progressors may provide insights for vaccine design against local viruses. We performed a cross-sectional analysis on 7 samples. We tested the neutralization breadth and geometric mean ID50 titers (GMTs) of these samples, and divided them into hBCN+ and hBCN- group according to whether their neutralization breadth >90%. We obtained env sequences in these samples through single genome amplification (SGA) assay. By comparing with hBCN-, subtype B chronically infected group (B-SP), and Chinese subtype B group (B-Database), we analyzed the characteristics of the env sequences of hBCN+ group. Longer V1 and V4 regions with more glycosylation sites were found in hBCN+ samples compared to hBCN- samples. Further analysis compared to B-SP and B-Database showed that hBCN+ group exhibited unique extra-long V1 region containing higher proportion of N-glycan sites and additional cysteines. PMID: 33010671 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Virology - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Virology Source Type: research