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Structure/Function Studies Involving the V3 Region of the HIV-1 Envelope Delineate Multiple Factors That Affect Neutralization Sensitivity.

ABSTRACT: Antibodies (Abs) specific for the V3 loop of the HIV-1 gp120 envelope neutralize most tier 1 and many tier 2 viruses and are present in essentially all HIV-infected individuals as well as immunized humans and animals. Vaccine-induced V3 Abs are associated with reduced HIV infection rates in humans and affect the nature of transmitted viruses in infected vaccinees, despite the fact that V3 is often occluded in the envelope trimer. Here, we link structural and experimental data showing how conformational alterations of the envelope trimer render viruses exceptionally sensitive to V3 Abs. The experiments interrogated the neutralization sensitivity of pseudoviruses with single amino acid mutations in various regions of gp120 that were predicted to alter packing of the V3 loop in the Env trimer. The results indicate that the V3 loop is metastable in the envelope trimer on the virion surface, flickering between states in which V3 is either occluded or available for binding to chemokine receptors (leading to infection) and to V3 Abs (leading to virus neutralization). The spring-loaded V3 in the envelope trimer is easily released by disruption of the stability of the V3 pocket in the unliganded trimer or disruption of favorable V3/pocket interactions. Formation of the V3 pocket requires appropriate positioning of the V1V2 domain, which is, in turn, dependent on the conformation of the bridging sheet and on the stability of the V1V2 B-C strand-connecting loop.The levels of antibodies to the third variable region (V3) of the HIV envelope protein correlate with reduced HIV infection rates. Previous studies showed that V3 is often occluded, as it sits in a pocket of the envelope trimer on the surface of virions; however, the trimer is flexible, allowing occluded portions of the envelope (like V3) to flicker into an exposed position that binds antibodies. Here we provide a systematic interrogation of mechanisms by which single amino acid changes in various regions of gp120 (i) render viruses sensitive to neutralization by V3 antibodies, (ii) result in altered packing of the V3 loop, and (iii) activate an open conformation that exposes V3 to the effects of V3 Abs. Taken together, these and previous studies explain how V3 antibodies can protect against HIV-1 infection and why they should be one of the targets of vaccine-induced antibodies.

SUBMITTER: Zolla-Pazner S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4702699 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structure/Function Studies Involving the V3 Region of the HIV-1 Envelope Delineate Multiple Factors That Affect Neutralization Sensitivity.

Zolla-Pazner Susan S Cohen Sandra Sharpe SS Boyd David D Kong Xiang-Peng XP Seaman Michael M Nussenzweig Michel M Klein Florian F Overbaugh Julie J Totrov Max M

Journal of virology 20151021 2

<h4>Unlabelled</h4>Antibodies (Abs) specific for the V3 loop of the HIV-1 gp120 envelope neutralize most tier 1 and many tier 2 viruses and are present in essentially all HIV-infected individuals as well as immunized humans and animals. Vaccine-induced V3 Abs are associated with reduced HIV infection rates in humans and affect the nature of transmitted viruses in infected vaccinees, despite the fact that V3 is often occluded in the envelope trimer. Here, we link structural and experimental data ...[more]

PMID: 26491157

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Project description:BackgroundHIV-1 infects macrophages and microglia in the brain and can cause neurological disorders in infected patients. We and others have shown that brain-derived envelope glycoproteins (Env) have lower CD4 dependence and higher avidity for CD4 than those from peripheral isolates, and we have also observed increased fusogenicity and reduced sensitivity to the fusion inhibitor T-1249. Due to the genetic differences between brain and spleen env from one individual throughout gp120 and in gp41's heptad repeat 2 (HR2), we investigated the viral determinants for the phenotypic differences by performing functional studies with chimeric and mutant Env.ResultsChimeric Env showed that the V1/V2-C2-V3 region in brain's gp120 determines the low CD4 dependence and high avidity for CD4, as well as macrophage tropism and reduced sensitivity to the small molecule BMS-378806. Changes in brain gp41's HR2 region did not contribute to the increased fusogenicity or to the reduced sensitivity to T-1249, since a T-1249-based peptide containing residues found in brain's but not in spleen's HR2 had similar potency than T-1249 and interacted similarly with an immobilized heptad repeat 1-derived peptide in surface plasmon resonance analysis. However, the increased fusogenicity and reduced T-1249 sensitivity of brain and certain chimeric Env mostly correlated with the low CD4 dependence and high avidity for CD4 determined by brain's V1-V3 region. Remarkably, most but not all of these low CD4-dependent, macrophage tropic envelopes glycoproteins also had increased sensitivity to the novel allosteric entry inhibitor HNG-105. The gp120's C2 region asparagine 283 (N283) has been previously associated with macrophage tropism, brain infection, lower CD4 dependence and higher CD4 affinity. Therefore, we introduced the N283T mutation into an env clone from a brain-derived isolate and into a brain tissue-derived env clone, and the T283N change into a spleen-derived env from the same individual; however, we found that their phenotypes were not affected.ConclusionWe have identified that the V1-V3 region of a brain-derived envelope glycoprotein seems to play a crucial role in determining not only the low CD4 dependence and increased macrophage tropism, but also the augmented fusogenicity and reduced sensitivity to T-1249 and BMS-378806. By contrast, increased sensitivity to HNG-105 mostly correlated with low CD4 dependence and macrophage tropism but was not determined by the presence of the brain's V1-V3 region, confirming that viral determinants of phenotypic changes in brain-derived envelope glycoproteins are likely complex and context-dependent.

Project description:The V1/V2 region and the V3 loop of the human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) envelope (Env) protein are targets for neutralizing antibodies and also play an important functional role, with the V3 loop largely determining whether a virus uses CCR5 (R5), CXCR4 (X4), or either coreceptor (R5X4) to infect cells. While the sequence of V3 is variable, its length is highly conserved. Structural studies indicate that V3 length may be important for interactions with the extracellular loops of the coreceptor. Consistent with this view, genetic truncation of the V3 loop is typically associated with loss of Env function. We removed approximately one-half of the V3 loop from three different HIV-1 strains, and found that only the Env protein from the R5X4 strain R3A retained some fusion activity. Loss of V1/V2 (DeltaV1/V2) was well tolerated by this virus. Passaging of virus with the truncated V3 loop resulted in the derivation of a virus strain that replicated with wild-type kinetics. This virus, termed TA1, retained the V3 loop truncation and acquired several adaptive changes in gp120 and gp41. TA1 could use CCR5 but not CXCR4 to infect cells, and was extremely sensitive to neutralization by HIV-1 positive human sera, and by antibodies to the CD4 binding site and to CD4-induced epitopes in the bridging sheet region of gp120. In addition, TA1 was completely resistant to CCR5 inhibitors, and was more dependent upon the N-terminal domain of CCR5, a region of the receptor that is thought to contact the bridging sheet of gp120 and the base of the V3 loop, and whose conformation may not be greatly affected by CCR5 inhibitors. These studies suggest that the V3 loop protects HIV from neutralization by antibodies prevalent in infected humans, that CCR5 inhibitors likely act by disrupting interactions between the V3 loop and the coreceptor, and that altered use of CCR5 by HIV-1 associated with increased sensitivity to changes in the N-terminal domain can be linked to high levels of resistance to these antiviral compounds.

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Structure/Function Studies Involving the V3 Region of the HIV-1 Envelope Delineate Multiple Factors That Affect Neutralization Sensitivity.

Publications

Structure/Function Studies Involving the V3 Region of the HIV-1 Envelope Delineate Multiple Factors That Affect Neutralization Sensitivity.

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