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HIV-1 envelope gp41 antibodies can originate from terminal ileum B cells that share cross-reactivity with commensal bacteria
Trama, A. M., Moody, M. A., Alam, S. M., Jaeger, F. H., Lockwood, B., Parks, R., Lloyd, K. E., Stolarchuk, C., Scearce, R., Foulger, A., Marshall, D. J., Whitesides, J. F., Jeffries, T. L., Wiehe, K., Morris, L., Lambson, B., Soderberg, K., Hwang, K.-K., Tomaras, G. D., ... Haynes, B. F. (2014). HIV-1 envelope gp41 antibodies can originate from terminal ileum B cells that share cross-reactivity with commensal bacteria. Cell Host and Microbe, 16(2), 215-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2014.07.003
Monoclonal antibodies derived from blood plasma cells of acute HIV-1-infected individuals are predominantly targeted to the HIV Env gp41 and cross-reactive with commensal bacteria. To understand this phenomenon, we examined anti-HIV responses in ileum B cells using recombinant antibody technology and probed their relationship to commensal bacteria. The dominant ileum B cell response was to Env gp41. Remarkably, a majority (82%) of the ileum anti-gp41 antibodies cross-reacted with commensal bacteria, and of those, 43% showed non-HIV-1 antigen polyreactivity. Pyrosequencing revealed shared HIV-1 antibody clonal lineages between ileum and blood. Mutated immunoglobulin G antibodies cross-reactive with both Env gp41 and microbiota could also be isolated from the ileum of HIV-1 uninfected individuals. Thus, the gp41 commensal bacterial antigen cross-reactive antibodies originate in the intestine, and the gp41 Env response in HIV-1 infection can be derived from a preinfection memory B cell pool triggered by commensal bacteria that cross-react with Env.
