Passively Acquired Constant Region 5-Specific Antibodies Associated With Improved Survival in Infants Who Acquire Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Zak A Yaffe; Kevin Sung; Rose Bosire; Carey Farquhar; Dorothy Mbori Ngacha; Barbara Lohman-Payne; Ruth Nduati; Grace John-Stewart; Frederick A Matsen 4th; Julie Overbaugh

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad316

Passively Acquired Constant Region 5-Specific Antibodies Associated With Improved Survival in Infants Who Acquire Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Jun 14;10(7):ofad316. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad316. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Zak A Yaffe^{1

2

3}, Kevin Sung⁴, Rose Bosire⁵, Carey Farquhar^{6

7

8}, Dorothy Mbori Ngacha^{9

10}, Barbara Lohman-Payne^{6

8

10}, Ruth Nduati¹⁰, Grace John-Stewart^{6

7

8

11}, Frederick A Matsen 4th^{4

12}, Julie Overbaugh^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁴ Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁵ Centre for Public Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
⁶ Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁹ HIV Section, United Nations Children's Fund, New York, New York, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
¹² Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Abstract

Studying vertical human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission enables the impact of passively transferred antibodies on HIV transmission and pathogenesis to be examined. Using phage display of HIV envelope peptides and peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we found that, in infants who acquired HIV, passive antibody responses to constant region 5 (C5) were associated with improved survival in 2 cohorts. In a combined analysis, C5 peptide ELISA activity was correlated directly with survival and estimated infection time and inversely with set point viral load. These results suggest that preexisting C5-specific antibodies may be correlated with the survival of infants living with HIV, motivating additional research into their protective potential.

Keywords: HIV envelope; HIV vertical transmission; antibodies; phage display; placental antibody transfer.