Discordant memory B cell and circulating anti-Env antibody responses in HIV-1 infection

Y Guan, MM Sajadi, R Kamin-Lewis… - Proceedings of the …, 2009 - National Acad Sciences
Y Guan, MM Sajadi, R Kamin-Lewis, TR Fouts, A Dimitrov, Z Zhang, RR Redfield, AL DeVico…
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009National Acad Sciences
Long-lived memory B cells (BMem) provide an archive of historic Ab responses. By contrast,
circulating Abs typically decline once the immunogen is cleared. Consequently, circulating
Abs can underestimate the nature of cognate humoral immunity. On the other hand, the
BMem pool should provide a comprehensive picture of Ab specificities that arise over the
entire course of infection. To test this hypothesis, we compared circulating Ab and BMem
from natural virus suppressors who control HIV-1 without therapy and maintain a relatively …
Long-lived memory B cells (BMem) provide an archive of historic Ab responses. By contrast, circulating Abs typically decline once the immunogen is cleared. Consequently, circulating Abs can underestimate the nature of cognate humoral immunity. On the other hand, the BMem pool should provide a comprehensive picture of Ab specificities that arise over the entire course of infection. To test this hypothesis, we compared circulating Ab and BMem from natural virus suppressors who control HIV-1 without therapy and maintain a relatively intact immune system. We found high frequencies of BMem specific for the conserved neutralizing CD4 induced or CD4 binding site epitopes of gp120, whereas low Ab titers to these determinants were detected in contemporaneous plasma. These data suggest that plasma Ab repertoires can underestimate the breadth of humoral immunity, and analyses of BMem should be included in studies correlating Ab specificity with protective immunity to HIV-1.
National Acad Sciences