Dennis R. Burton
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Approaches to the Neutralizing Antibody Problem in HIV Vaccine Design

The design of immunogens capable of eliciting broadly neutralizing anti-HIV-1 antibodies is proving difficult. Conserved sites on the envelope (Env) trimer on the surface of virions appear to be only weakly immunogenic. However, a small panel of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that do recognize these sites and broadly neutralize HIV-1 has been identified. We are pursuing an understanding of the interaction of these mAbs with HIV-1 Env at the molecular level. This may promote the design of immunogens capable of eliciting antibodies similar to these mAbs i.e broadly cross-neutralizing.