Hongying Duan

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Abstract Soluble 'SOSIP'-stabilized HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) trimers elicit dominant antibody responses targeting their glycan-free base regions, potentially diminishing neutralizing responses. Previously, using a nonhuman primate model, we demonstrated that priming with fusion peptide (FP)-carrier conjugate immunogens followed by boosting with Env trimers reduced the anti-base response.

Highlights • Devise methods to quantify antibody responses targeting the base of HIV-1 Env trimers • Fusion-peptide (FP) priming reduces anti-base responses upon HIV Env trimer boost • Lower percentage of anti-base responses correlates with improved neutralization breadth Summary Soluble “SOSIP”-stabilized envelope (Env) trimers are promising HIV-vaccine immunogens. However, they induce high-titer responses against the glycan-free trimer base, which is occluded on native virions.