TY - JOUR
T1 - Hepatitis C Virus–Escape Studies for Human Monoclonal Antibody AR4A Reveal Isolate-Specific Resistance and a High Barrier to Resistance
AU - Velázquez-moctezuma, Rodrigo
AU - Galli, Andrea
AU - Law, Mansun
AU - Bukh, Jens
AU - Prentoe, Jannick
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Global control of hepatitis C virus (HCV) depends on development of a prophylactic vaccine. We studied escape for cross-genotype-reactive neutralizing antibody AR4A, providing valuable information for HCV vaccine design. We cultured HCV core-NS2 recombinants H77 (genotype 1a)/JFH1 or the highly antibody-susceptible hypervariable region 1 (HVR1)-deleted variants H77/JFH1 δHVR1 and J6(genotype 2a)/JFH1 δHVR1 in Huh7.5 cells with AR4A. Long-term AR4A exposure of H77/JFH1 and H77/JFH1 δHVR1 did not yield resistance. However, J6/JFH1 δHVR1 developed the envelope-E2 substitutions I696T or I696N, which reduced AR4A binding (I696N > I696T). I696N conferred greater AR4A resistance than I696T in J6/JFH1 δHVR1, whereas the reverse was observed in J6/JFH1. This was because I696N but not I696T conferred broadly increased antibody neutralization susceptibility to J6/JFH1. I696N and I696T abrogated infectivity of H77/JFH1 and broadly increased neutralization susceptibility of S52 (genotype 3a)/JFH1. In conclusion, I696 is in the AR4A epitope, which has a high barrier to resistance, thus strengthening the rationale for its inclusion in rational HCV vaccine designs.
AB - Global control of hepatitis C virus (HCV) depends on development of a prophylactic vaccine. We studied escape for cross-genotype-reactive neutralizing antibody AR4A, providing valuable information for HCV vaccine design. We cultured HCV core-NS2 recombinants H77 (genotype 1a)/JFH1 or the highly antibody-susceptible hypervariable region 1 (HVR1)-deleted variants H77/JFH1 δHVR1 and J6(genotype 2a)/JFH1 δHVR1 in Huh7.5 cells with AR4A. Long-term AR4A exposure of H77/JFH1 and H77/JFH1 δHVR1 did not yield resistance. However, J6/JFH1 δHVR1 developed the envelope-E2 substitutions I696T or I696N, which reduced AR4A binding (I696N > I696T). I696N conferred greater AR4A resistance than I696T in J6/JFH1 δHVR1, whereas the reverse was observed in J6/JFH1. This was because I696N but not I696T conferred broadly increased antibody neutralization susceptibility to J6/JFH1. I696N and I696T abrogated infectivity of H77/JFH1 and broadly increased neutralization susceptibility of S52 (genotype 3a)/JFH1. In conclusion, I696 is in the AR4A epitope, which has a high barrier to resistance, thus strengthening the rationale for its inclusion in rational HCV vaccine designs.
U2 - 10.1093/infdis/jiy481
DO - 10.1093/infdis/jiy481
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30102355
SN - 0022-1899
VL - 219
SP - 68
EP - 79
JO - The Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - The Journal of Infectious Diseases
IS - 1
ER -
