B cells from knock-in mice expressing broadly neutralizing HIV antibody b12 carry an innocuous B cell receptor responsive to HIV vaccine candidates.

Broadly neutralizing Abs against HIV protect from infection, but their routine elicitation by vaccination has not been achieved. To generate small animal models to test vaccine candidates, we have generated targeted transgenic ("knock-in") mice expressing, in the physiological Ig H and L chain loci, two well-studied broadly neutralizing Abs: 4E10, which interacts with the membrane proximal external region of gp41, and b12, which binds to the CD4 binding site on gp120. 4E10HL mice are described in the companion article (Doyle-Cooper et al., J. Immunol. 191: 3186-3191). In this article, we describe b12 mice. B cells in b12HL mice, in contrast to the case in 4E10 mice, were abundant and essentially monoclonal, retaining the b12 specificity. In cell culture, b12HL B cells responded avidly to HIV envelope gp140 trimers and to BCR ligands. Upon transfer to wild-type recipients, b12HL B cells responded robustly to vaccination with gp140 trimers. Vaccinated b12H mice, although generating abundant precursors and Abs with affinity for Env, were unable to rapidly generate neutralizing Abs, highlighting the importance of developing Ag forms that better focus responses to neutralizing epitopes. The b12HL and b12H mice should be useful in optimizing HIV vaccine candidates to elicit a neutralizing response while avoiding nonprotective specificities.

Immune tolerance negatively regulates B cells in knock-in mice expressing broadly neutralizing HIV antibody 4E10.

A major goal of HIV research is to develop vaccines reproducibly eliciting broadly neutralizing Abs (bNAbs); however, this has proved to be challenging. One suggested explanation for this difficulty is that epitopes seen by bNAbs mimic self, leading to immune tolerance. We generated knock-in mice expressing bNAb 4E10, which recognizes the membrane proximal external region of gp41. Unlike b12 knock-in mice, described in the companion article (Ota et al. 2013. J. Immunol. 191: 3179-3185), 4E10HL mice were found to undergo profound negative selection of B cells, indicating that 4E10 is, to a physiologically significant extent, autoreactive. Negative selection occurred by various mechanisms, including receptor editing, clonal deletion, and receptor downregulation. Despite significant deletion, small amounts of IgM and IgG anti-gp41 were found in the sera of 4E10HL mice. On a Rag1⁻/⁻ background, 4E10HL mice had virtually no serum Ig of any kind. These results are consistent with a model in which B cells with 4E10 specificity are counterselected, raising the question of how 4E10 was generated in the patient from whom it was isolated. This represents the second example of a membrane proximal external region-directed bNAb that is apparently autoreactive in a physiological setting. The relative conservation in HIV of the 4E10 epitope might reflect the fact that it is under less intense immunological selection as a result of B cell self-tolerance. The safety and desirability of targeting this epitope by a vaccine is discussed in light of the newly described bNAb 10E8.

2G12-expressing B cell lines may aid in HIV carbohydrate vaccine design strategies.

The highly conserved cluster of high-mannose glycans on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, gp120, has been highlighted as a target for neutralizing antibodies. 2G12, the first HIV-1 antiglycan neutralizing antibody described, binds with an unusual domain-exchanged structure that creates a high-affinity multivalent binding surface. It is an interesting challenge for rational vaccine design to generate immunogens capable of eliciting domain-exchanged 2G12-like responses. We recently showed that di-mannose recognition by the variable domains of 2G12 is independent of domain exchange but that exchange is critical for virus neutralization. Carbohydrate-based immunogens aimed at inducing 2G12-like antibodies may need to drive both di-mannose recognition and domain exchange through interactions with B cell receptors. Here we assessed the ability of such immunogens to activate mouse B cell lines displaying domain-exchanged wild-type 2G12 (2G12 WT), a non-domain-exchanged Y-shaped variant (2G12 I19R), and germ line 2G12 (2G12 gl). We show that several immunogens, including heat-killed yeast and bacteria, can activate both 2G12 WT and 2G12 I19R B cells. However, only discrete clusters of high-mannose glycans, as on recombinant forms of the HIV-1 envelope trimer and oligodendrons, activate 2G12 WT B cells. Furthermore, no immunogen tested activated 2G12 gl cells. Our results support the hypothesis that in order to drive domain exchange of an antimannose antibody response, a boost with an immunogen displaying discrete clusters of high-mannose glycans not recognized by conventional Y-shaped antibodies will be required. Additionally, a molecule capable of activating 2G12 gl cells might also be required. The results highlight broadly neutralizing antibody-expressing mouse B cells as potentially useful tools for carbohydrate immunogen screening.

Anti-HIV B Cell lines as candidate vaccine biosensors.

Challenge studies following passive immunization with neutralizing Abs suggest that an HIV vaccine could be efficacious were it able to elicit broadly neutralizing Abs (bNAbs). To better understand the requirements for activation of B cells producing bNAbs, we generated cell lines expressing bNAbs or their germline-reverted versions (gl-bNAbs) as BCRs. We then tested the abilities of the bNAb-expressing cells to recognize HIV pseudovirions and vaccine candidate proteins by binding and activation assays. The results suggest that HIV envelope (Env) Ag-expressing, infection-competent virions are poorly recognized by high-affinity bNAb-expressing cells, as measured by the inability of Ags to induce rapid increases in intracellular calcium levels. Other Ag forms appear to be highly stimulatory, in particular, soluble gp140 trimers and a multimerized, scaffolded epitope protein. Virions failed to efficiently activate bNAb-expressing B cells owing to delayed or inefficient BCR recognition, most likely caused by the low density of Env spikes. Importantly, B cells carrying gl-bNAb BCRs were not stimulated by any of the tested vaccine candidates. These data provide insight into why many HIV immunogens, as well as natural HIV infections, fail to rapidly stimulate bNAb responses and suggest that bNAb-expressing cell lines might be useful tools in evaluation of vaccine Ags for infectious diseases. Because soluble Env trimers or multimerized scaffolded epitopes are best at activating B cell-expressing bNAbs, these antigenic forms should be considered as preferred vaccine components, although they should be modified to better target naive gl-bNAb B cells.

Alternative mechanisms of receptor editing in autoreactive B cells.

Pathogenic anti-DNA antibodies expressed in systemic lupus erythematosis bind DNA mainly through electrostatic interactions between the positively charged Arg residues of the antibody complementarity determining region (CDR) and the negatively charged phosphate groups of DNA. The importance of Arg in CDR3 for DNA binding has been shown in mice with transgenes coding for anti-DNA V(H) regions; there is also a close correlation between arginines in CDR3 of antibodies and DNA binding. Codons for Arg can readily be formed by V(D)J rearrangement; thereby, antibodies that bind DNA are part of the preimmune repertoire. Anti-DNAs in healthy mice are regulated by receptor editing, a mechanism that replaces κ light (L) chains compatible with DNA binding with κ L chains that harbor aspartic residues. This negatively charged amino acid is thought to neutralize Arg sites in the V(H). Editing by replacement is allowed at the κ locus, because the rearranged VJ is nested between unrearranged Vs and Js. However, neither λ nor heavy (H) chain loci are organized so as to allow such second rearrangements. In this study, we analyze regulation of anti-DNA H chains in mice that lack the κ locus, κ-/κ- mice. These mice show that the endogenous preimmune repertoire does indeed include a high frequency of antibodies with Arg in their CDR3s (putative anti-DNAs) and they are associated mainly with the editor L chain λx. The editing mechanisms in the case of λ-expressing B cells include L chain allelic inclusion and V(H) replacement.

Detection and activation of HIV broadly neutralizing antibody precursor B cells using anti-idiotypes.

Many tested vaccines fail to provide protection against disease despite the induction of antibodies that bind the pathogen of interest. In light of this, there is much interest in rationally designed subunit vaccines that direct the antibody response to protective epitopes. Here, we produced a panel of anti-idiotype antibodies able to specifically recognize the inferred germline version of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) broadly neutralizing antibody b12 (iglb12). We determined the crystal structure of two anti-idiotypes in complex with iglb12 and used these anti-idiotypes to identify rare naive human B cells expressing B cell receptors with similarity to iglb12. Immunization with a multimerized version of this anti-idiotype induced the proliferation of transgenic murine B cells expressing the iglb12 heavy chain in vivo, despite the presence of deletion and anergy within this population. Together, our data indicate that anti-idiotypes are a valuable tool for the study and induction of potentially protective antibodies.