Browsing by Author "Edwards, R Whitney"

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    Application of area scaling analysis to identify natural killer cell and monocyte involvement in the GranToxiLux antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay.
    (Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology, 2018-04) Pollara, Justin; Orlandi, Chiara; Beck, Charles; Edwards, R Whitney; Hu, Yi; Liu, Shuying; Wang, Shixia; Koup, Richard A; Denny, Thomas N; Lu, Shan; Tomaras, Georgia D; DeVico, Anthony; Lewis, George K; Ferrari, Guido
    Several different assay methodologies have been described for the evaluation of HIV or SIV-specific antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Commonly used assays measure ADCC by evaluating effector cell functions, or by detecting elimination of target cells. Signaling through Fc receptors, cellular activation, cytotoxic granule exocytosis, or accumulation of cytolytic and immune signaling factors have been used to evaluate ADCC at the level of the effector cells. Alternatively, assays that measure killing or loss of target cells provide a direct assessment of the specific killing activity of antibodies capable of ADCC. Thus, each of these two distinct types of assays provides information on only one of the critical components of an ADCC event; either the effector cells involved, or the resulting effect on the target cell. We have developed a simple modification of our previously described high-throughput ADCC GranToxiLux (GTL) assay that uses area scaling analysis (ASA) to facilitate simultaneous quantification of ADCC activity at the target cell level, and assessment of the contribution of natural killer cells and monocytes to the total observed ADCC activity when whole human peripheral blood mononuclear cells are used as a source of effector cells. The modified analysis method requires no additional reagents and can, therefore, be easily included in prospective studies. Moreover, ASA can also often be applied to pre-existing ADCC-GTL datasets. Thus, incorporation of ASA to the ADCC-GTL assay provides an ancillary assessment of the ability of natural and vaccine-induced antibodies to recruit natural killer cells as well as monocytes against HIV or SIV; or to any other field of research for which this assay is applied. © 2018 The Authors. Cytometry Part A published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of ISAC.
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    Association of HIV-1 Envelope-Specific Breast Milk IgA Responses with Reduced Risk of Postnatal Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV-1.
    (J Virol, 2015-10) Pollara, Justin; McGuire, Erin; Fouda, Genevieve G; Rountree, Wes; Eudailey, Josh; Overman, R Glenn; Seaton, Kelly E; Deal, Aaron; Edwards, R Whitney; Tegha, Gerald; Kamwendo, Deborah; Kumwenda, Jacob; Nelson, Julie AE; Liao, Hua-Xin; Brinkley, Christie; Denny, Thomas N; Ochsenbauer, Christina; Ellington, Sascha; King, Caroline C; Jamieson, Denise J; van der Horst, Charles; Kourtis, Athena P; Tomaras, Georgia D; Ferrari, Guido; Permar, Sallie R
    UNLABELLED: Infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers in resource-limited areas where replacement feeding is unsafe and impractical are repeatedly exposed to HIV-1 throughout breastfeeding. Despite this, the majority of infants do not contract HIV-1 postnatally, even in the absence of maternal antiretroviral therapy. This suggests that immune factors in breast milk of HIV-1-infected mothers help to limit vertical transmission. We compared the HIV-1 envelope-specific breast milk and plasma antibody responses of clade C HIV-1-infected postnatally transmitting and nontransmitting mothers in the control arm of the Malawi-based Breastfeeding Antiretrovirals and Nutrition Study using multivariable logistic regression modeling. We found no association between milk or plasma neutralization activity, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, or HIV-1 envelope-specific IgG responses and postnatal transmission risk. While the envelope-specific breast milk and plasma IgA responses also did not reach significance in predicting postnatal transmission risk in the primary model after correction for multiple comparisons, subsequent exploratory analysis using two distinct assay methodologies demonstrated that the magnitudes of breast milk total and secretory IgA responses against a consensus HIV-1 envelope gp140 (B.con env03) were associated with reduced postnatal transmission risk. These results suggest a protective role for mucosal HIV-1 envelope-specific IgA responses in the context of postnatal virus transmission. This finding supports further investigations into the mechanisms by which mucosal IgA reduces risk of HIV-1 transmission via breast milk and into immune interventions aimed at enhancing this response. IMPORTANCE: Infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers are repeatedly exposed to the virus in breast milk. Remarkably, the transmission rate is low, suggesting that immune factors in the breast milk of HIV-1-infected mothers help to limit transmission. We compared the antibody responses in plasma and breast milk of HIV-1-transmitting and -nontransmitting mothers to identify responses that correlated with reduced risk of postnatal HIV-1 transmission. We found that neither plasma nor breast milk IgG antibody responses were associated with risk of HIV-1 transmission. In contrast, the magnitudes of the breast milk IgA and secretory IgA responses against HIV-1 envelope proteins were associated with reduced risk of postnatal HIV-1 transmission. The results of this study support further investigations of the mechanisms by which mucosal IgA may reduce the risk of HIV-1 transmission via breastfeeding and the development of strategies to enhance milk envelope-specific IgA responses to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission and promote an HIV-free generation.
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    Redirection of Cord Blood T Cells and Natural Killer Cells for Elimination of Autologous HIV-1-Infected Target Cells Using Bispecific DART® Molecules.
    (Frontiers in immunology, 2020-01) Pollara, Justin; Edwards, R Whitney; Jha, Shalini; Lam, Chia-Ying Kao; Liu, Liqin; Diedrich, Gundo; Nordstrom, Jeffrey L; Huffman, Tori; Pickeral, Joy A; Denny, Thomas N; Permar, Sallie R; Ferrari, Guido
    Mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 remains a major global health challenge. Currently, HIV-1-infected infants require strict lifelong adherence to antiretroviral therapy to prevent replication of virus from reservoirs of infected cells, and to halt progression of disease. There is a critical need for immune interventions that can be deployed shortly after infection to eliminate HIV-1-infected cells in order to promote long-term remission of viremia, or to potentially cure pediatric HIV-1-infection. Bispecific HIV × CD3 DART® molecules able to co-engage the HIV-1 envelope protein on the surface of infected cells and CD3 on cytolytic T cells have been previously shown to eliminate HIV-1 infected cells in vitro and are candidates for passive immunotherapy to reduce the virus reservoir. However, their potential utility as therapy for infant HIV-1 infection is unclear as the ability of these novel antibody-based molecules to work in concert with cells of the infant immune system had not been assessed. Here, we use human umbilical cord blood as a model of the naïve neonatal immune system to evaluate the ability of HIV x CD3 DART molecules to recruit and redirect neonatal effector cells for elimination of autologous CD4+ T cells infected with HIV-1 encoding an envelope gene sequenced from a mother-to-child transmission event. We found that HIV × CD3 DART molecules can redirect T cells present in cord blood for elimination of HIV-infected CD4+ T cells. However, we observed reduced killing by T cells isolated from cord blood when compared to cells isolated from adult peripheral blood-likely due to the absence of the memory and effector CD8+ T cells that are most cytolytic when redirected by bispecific DART molecules. We also found that newly developed HIV × CD16 DART molecules were able to recruit CD16-expressing natural killer cells from cord blood to eliminate HIV-infected cells, and the activity of cord blood natural killer cells could be substantially increased by priming with IL-15. Our results support continued development of HIV-specific DART molecules using relevant preclinical animal models to optimize strategies for effective use of this immune therapy to reduce HIV-1 infection in pediatric populations.
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    Vaccine-Induced Antibodies Mediate Higher Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity After Interleukin-15 Pretreatment of Natural Killer Effector Cells.
    (Frontiers in immunology, 2019-01) Fisher, Leigh; Zinter, Melissa; Stanfield-Oakley, Sherry; Carpp, Lindsay N; Edwards, R Whitney; Denny, Thomas; Moodie, Zoe; Laher, Fatima; Bekker, Linda-Gail; McElrath, M Juliana; Gilbert, Peter B; Corey, Lawrence; Tomaras, Georgia; Pollara, Justin; Ferrari, Guido
    The secondary analyses for correlates of risk of infection in the RV144 HIV-1 vaccine trial implicated vaccine-induced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) responses in the observed protection, highlighting the importance of assessing such responses in ongoing and future HIV-1 vaccine trials. However, in vitro assays that detect ADCC activity in plasma from HIV-1 infected seropositive individuals are not always effective at detecting ADCC activity in plasma from HIV-1 vaccine recipients. In vivo, ADCC-mediating antibodies must operate at the site of infection, where effector cells are recruited and activated by a local milieu of chemokines and cytokines. Based on previous findings that interleukin 15 (IL-15) secretion increases during acute HIV-1 infection and enhances NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity, we hypothesized that IL-15 pretreatment of NK effector cells could be used to improve killing of infected cells by vaccine-induced antibodies capable of mediating ADCC. Using the HIV-1 infectious molecular clone (IMC)-infected target cell assay along with plasma samples from HIV-1 vaccine recipients, we found that IL-15 treatment of effector cells improved the ability of the vaccine-induced antibodies to recruit effector cells for ADCC. Through immunophenotyping experiments, we showed that this improved killing was likely due to IL-15 mediated activation of NK effector cells and higher intracellular levels of perforin and granzyme B in the IL-15 pretreated NK cells. We also found that using a 4-fold dilution series of plasma and subtraction of pre-vaccination responses resulted in lowest response rates among placebo recipients and significant separation between treatment groups. This represents the first attempt to utilize IL-15-treated effector cells and optimized analytical approaches to improve the detection of HIV-1 vaccine-induced ADCC responses and will inform analyses of future HIV vaccine clinical trials.