Download MendeleyUtilizing Machine Learning to Improve Neutralization Potency of an HIV-1 Antibody Targeting the gp41 N-Heptad Repeat.
Filsinger Interrante, M.V., Tang, S., Kim, S., Shanker, V.R., Hie, B.L., Bruun, T.U.J., Wu, W., Pak, J.E., Fernandez, D., Kim, P.S.(2025) ACS Chem Biol 20: 1470-1480
- PubMed: 40540236
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.5c00035
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
8VWE - PubMed Abstract:
The N-heptad repeat (NHR) of the HIV-1 gp41 prehairpin intermediate (PHI) is an attractive potential vaccine target with high sequence conservation across diverse strains. However, despite the potency of NHR-targeting peptides and clinical efficacy of the NHR-targeting entry inhibitor enfuvirtide, no potently neutralizing NHR-directed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) nor antisera have been identified or elicited to date. The lack of potent NHR-binding mAbs both dampens enthusiasm for vaccine development efforts at this target and presents a barrier to performing passive immunization experiments with NHR-targeting antibodies. To address this challenge, we previously developed an improved variant of the NHR-directed mAb D5, called D5_AR, which is capable of neutralizing diverse tier-2 viruses. Building on that work, here we present the 2.7Å-crystal structure of D5_AR bound to NHR mimetic peptide IQN17. We then utilize protein language models and supervised machine learning to generate small ( n < 100) libraries of D5_AR variants that are subsequently screened for improved neutralization potency. We identify a variant with 5-fold improved neutralization potency, D5_FI, which is the most potent NHR-directed monoclonal antibody characterized to date and exhibits broad neutralization of tier-2 and -3 pseudoviruses as well as replicating R5 and X4 challenge strains. Additionally, our work highlights the ability of protein language models to efficiently identify improved mAb variants from relatively small libraries.
- Stanford Biophysics Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
Organizational Affiliation:
