Research sheds light on HIV antibody questions
Researchers have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the link between a host-cell gene called Apobec3 and the production of neutralizing antibodies to retroviruses. Published in the Sept. 5, 2008 issue of Science, the finding adds a new dimension to the set of possible explanations for why most people who are infected with HIV do not make neutralizing antibodies that effectively fight the virus.1
Antibodies are key to warding off viral infections, and most vaccines against viral diseases stimulate the body to make antibodies against the target virus. Yet no one knows how to make a vaccine that artificially stimulates the production of antibodies that can readily neutralize HIV, largely because so few HIV-infected people naturally exhibit this immune activity. The new finding about Apobec3 suggests that this gene may influence anti-HIV antibody production and may help explain why some people who are repeatedly exposed to the virus never become infected.
Retroviruses infect many mammals, and mice are susceptible to a retrovirus called Friend virus. A single gene controls the ability of mice to make neutralizing antibodies against this retrovirus and to recover from the viral infection. New research sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, demonstrates that this single, powerful gene is Apobec3, a gene found in matching locations in mice and humans. The scientists who conducted the study hypothesize that Apobec3 in humans might play a similar role in helping shape the neutralizing antibody response to human retroviruses such as HIV. Their thinking is supported by previous studies showing that human Apobec3 proteins exert anti-HIV activity and that the human chromosomal region containing Apobec3 genes influences the ability of the virus to establish infection.
"These findings add a new and quite unexpected dimension to our understanding of Apobec3 biology that might help us attack the HIV neutralizing antibody problem, an area where scientific progress has been slow," says Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, director of the study's principal investigator.
Reference
- ML Santiago et al. Apobec3 encodes Rfv3, a gene influencing neutralizing antibody control of retrovirus infection. Science DOI 10.1126/science.1161121 (2008).
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