The Caveolin-1 Binding Domain of HIV-1 Glycoprotein gp41 Is an Efficient B Cell Epitope Vaccine Candidate against Virus Infection

• Published in: Immunity (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 617 - 627
• Main Authors: Hovanessian, Ara G., Briand, Jean-Paul, Said, Elias A., Svab, Josette, Ferris, Stephane, Dali, Hayet, Muller, Sylviane, Desgranges, Claude, Krust, Bernard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.11.2004; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: AIDS Vaccines; AIDS Vaccines - immunology; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Animals; Binding Sites; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Caveolin 1; Caveolins; Caveolins - chemistry; Caveolins - metabolism; Cell Line; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; HIV; HIV Antibodies; HIV Antibodies - biosynthesis; HIV Envelope Protein gp41; HIV Envelope Protein gp41 - immunology; HIV Envelope Protein gp41 - metabolism; HIV-1; HIV-1 - immunology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Infections; Life Sciences; Lipids; Lymphocytes; Molecular Sequence Data; Peptides; Plasma; Proteins; Rabbits; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Signal transduction
• ISSN: 1074-7613; 1097-4180
• DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2004.08.015

Caveolin-1 is a scaffolding protein that organizes and concentrates specific ligands within the caveolae membranes. We identified a conserved caveolin-1 binding motif in the HIV-1 transmembrane envelope glycoprotein gp41 and designed several synthetic peptides, referred to as CBD1, corresponding to the consensus caveolin-1 binding domain in gp41. In rabbits, these peptides elicit the production of antibodies that inhibit infection of primary CD4 + T lymphocytes by various primary HIV-1 isolates. Interestingly, gp41 exists as a stable complex with caveolin-1 in HIV-infected cells. Anti-CBD1 peptide antibodies, therefore, might be functional by inhibiting the potential interaction of gp41 with caveolin-1. Because of their capacity to elicit antibodies that inhibit the different clades of HIV-1, CBD1-based peptides may represent a novel synthetic universal B cell epitope vaccine candidate for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, such peptides could also have an application as a therapeutic vaccine since CBD1-specific antibodies are rare in HIV-infected individuals from several geographic origins.