Browsing by Author "LaBranche, Celia"

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Open Access
IDLV-HIV-1 Env vaccination in non-human primates induces affinity maturation of antigen-specific memory B cells.
(Communications biology, 2018-01) Blasi, Maria; Negri, Donatella; LaBranche, Celia; Alam, S Munir; Baker, Erich J; Brunner, Elizabeth C; Gladden, Morgan A; Michelini, Zuleika; Vandergrift, Nathan A; Wiehe, Kevin J; Parks, Robert; Shen, Xiaoying; Bonsignori, Mattia; Tomaras, Georgia D; Ferrari, Guido; Montefiori, David C; Santra, Sampa; Haynes, Barton F; Moody, Michael A; Cara, Andrea; Klotman, Mary E
HIV continues to be a major global health issue. In spite of successful prevention interventions and treatment methods, the development of an HIV vaccine remains a major priority for the field and would be the optimal strategy to prevent new infections. We showed previously that a single immunization with a SIV-based integrase-defective lentiviral vector (IDLV) expressing the 1086.C HIV-1-envelope induced durable, high-magnitude immune responses in non-human primates (NHPs). In this study, we have further characterized the humoral responses by assessing antibody affinity maturation and antigen-specific memory B-cell persistence in two vaccinated macaques. These animals were also boosted with IDLV expressing the heterologous 1176.C HIV-1-Env to determine if neutralization breadth could be increased, followed by evaluation of the injection sites to assess IDLV persistence. IDLV-Env immunization was associated with persistence of the vector DNA for up to 6 months post immunization and affinity maturation of antigen-specific memory B cells.
Open Access
Immunization with an SIV-based IDLV Expressing HIV-1 Env 1086 Clade C Elicits Durable Humoral and Cellular Responses in Rhesus Macaques
(MOLECULAR THERAPY, 2016-11) Negri, Donatella; Blasi, Maria; LaBranche, Celia; Parks, Robert; Balachandran, Harikrishnan; Lifton, Michelle; Shen, Xiaoying; Denny, Thomas; Ferrari, Guido; Vescio, Maria Fenicia; Andersen, Hanne; Montefiori, David C; Tomaras, Georgia D; Liao, Hua-Xin; Santra, Sampa; Haynes, Barton F; Klotman, Mary E; Cara, Andrea
Open Access
Optimization and validation of a neutralizing antibody assay for HIV-1 in A3R5 cells.
(Journal of immunological methods, 2014-07) Sarzotti-Kelsoe, Marcella; Daniell, Xiaoju; Todd, Christopher A; Bilska, Miroslawa; Martelli, Amanda; LaBranche, Celia; Perez, Lautaro G; Ochsenbauer, Christina; Kappes, John C; Rountree, Wes; Denny, Thomas N; Montefiori, David C
A3R5 is a human CD4(+) lymphoblastoid cell line that was engineered to express CCR5 and is useful for the detection of weak neutralizing antibody responses against tier 2 strains of HIV-1. Here we describe the optimization and validation of the HIV-1 neutralizing antibody assay that utilizes A3R5 cells, performed in compliance with Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) guidelines. The assay utilizes Renilla luciferase-expressing replication competent infectious molecular clones (IMC) encoding heterologous env genes from different HIV-1 clades. Key assay validation parameters tested included specificity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection and quantitation, specificity, linearity and range, and robustness. Plasma samples demonstrated higher non-specific activity than serum samples in the A3R5 assay. This assay can tolerate a wide range of virus input but is more sensitive to cell concentration. The higher sensitivity of the A3R5 assay in neutralization responses to tier 2 strains of HIV-1 makes it complementary to, but not a substitute for the TZM-bl assay. The validated A3R5 assay is employed as an endpoint immunogenicity test for vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies against tier 2 strains of HIV-1, and to identify correlates of protection in HIV-1 vaccine trials conducted globally.