Distinct neutralization sensitivity between adult and infant transmitted/founder HIV-1 subtype C viruses to broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), passively administered or elicited through vaccination, are a promising strategy for novel HIV prevention, treatment or inducing ART-free remission. However, HIV diversity and evolution are a barrier to the efficacy of bnAbs and there is therefore an urgent need for continuous virus surveillance to identify bnAbs with optimal neutralization breadth and potency against transmitted/founder (TF) viruses, especially in high-burden regions. We determined the neutralization sensitivity of TF viruses isolated within seven days after first detection of heterosexually acquired infection from young women 18–23 years old (n = 39) and within 1 month after birth from in-utero infected infants (n = 21) from FRESH and Baby Cure cohorts respectively, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where HIV-1 subtype C predominates. Neutralization sensitivities of 47 viruses from FRESH and 21 viruses from Baby Cure were assessed against nine bnAbs targeting different regions on the HIV-1 Env trimer. HIV-1 env sequences within and between bnAb epitopes were compared with database. The bnAbs VRC07–523LS, CAP256-VRC26.25, PGDM1400, 10E8 and PGT151 displayed higher neutralization breadth and potency than other bnAbs against FRESH TF viruses (>70% coverage, starting concentration of 10 μg/ml). Furthermore, VRC07–523LS showed higher neutralization breadth and potency than other bnAbs against Baby Cure TF viruses (p = 0.02). Interestingly, CAP256-VRC26.25 and PGT151 had lower neutralization coverage against infant TF viruses (<60% coverage). Moreover, 40% of infants TF had escape mutations within the V2 loop compared to 28% observed in FRESH and these mutations may explain the observed differences in neutralization sensitivities. However, few mutations were observed in gp120-gp41 interface in both adults and infants. Our findings suggest that intervention studies may have to consider different antibody combinations in adult versus paediatric settings. Moreover, high transmission of escape variants in both vertical and heterosexual transmissions is of concern. This information may be important in the selection of bnAbs that will undergo clinical testing in subtype C settings.