The Rockefeller University: Researchers track the mutations that allow HIV-1 to escape broadly neutralizing antibodies

The Rockefeller University news release

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are among the most promising new treatments for HIV, offering the potential to forego the traditional daily dose of antiretroviral drugs. In one recent clinical study of bNAbs identified and developed into therapies at Rockefeller University, participants who received a single dose of two bNAbs maintained a nearly undetectable viral load for up to 20 weeks, and a third did so for about a year. These outcomes suggest a potential future of treatment-free, long-term control of the virus.

However, HIV-1 is extraordinarily genetically diverse and highly adept at acquiring resistance to neutralizing antibodies. The pathways by which the virus escapes bNAbs remain incompletely understood across diverse HIV-1 strains. A better understanding of how different strains respond to these emerging therapies is critical as the use of bNAbs expands.

Now Rockefeller scientists have established the most comprehensive view to date of how HIV-1 can escape bNAbs. Using thousands of parallel viral selection experiments combined with bioinformatic analysis and experimental validation, researchers discovered viral mutations that make HIV-1 strains resistant to two bNAbs, 3BNC117 and 10-1074. They published their results in Nature Microbiology.

Read the full news release here.