Induction and characterization of neutralizing antibodies against a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 primary isolate

Chimpanzees infected with the primary isolate DH012 mount potent neutralizing antibodies. This DH012 neutralizing activity is highly strain specific. Immune sera from guinea pigs immunized with recombinant DH012 gp120 could also neutralize this primary isolate. The neutralizing activity in chimpanzee and guinea pig sera against wild-type DH012 appears to be independent of a linear epitope in the V3 region of gp120. Interestingly, the neutralization escape mutant derived from growing DH012 in the presence of the potent neutralizing chimpanzee serum is at least 50-fold more sensitive than wild-type DH012 to neutralization by guinea pig immune sera. The unusually potent neutralizing activity against the DH012 neutralization-resistant virus is due to the presence of anti-V3 antibodies in guinea pig sera. These results suggested that recombinant gp120 could induce neutralizing antibodies against primary isolate DH012. The V3 of wild-type DH012 is poorly immunogenic in infected chimpanzees and is not accessible to neutralizing V3 antibodies. It is likely that this cryptic V3 region became exposed when the virus escaped the neutralizing activity of the chimpanzee serum.